The Mystery of Balkove Abbey
by alexi wild-child
Summary: Riley is small child living in Balkobe Abbey, living through the events that follow the championships when Tyson beats Tala. Read and learn what happens shortly before Boris disappears off the face of the earth for a short time.
1. Just a little bit painful

Title: The Mystery of Balkove Abbey (rewritten)

_by Lionheart_

Summary (detailed): Riley is a little kid with a sometimes bizare point of view,telling about whathappens in Balkove Abbey from the World Championships in Russia to the next world finals (G-Revolution). At first neglected by Boris and his ambitious plans, she's supported by Bryan and others and soon, she finds herself in quite adangerous situation, when she finds out more and more secrets about Balkove Abbey, but isn't allowed to tell anyone (not that she has many people to turn to anyway). It's a long way to the top, and if she can't reach it, she'll end broken. And there's death, loneliness, and danger…

Author's note: This story has been in my mind for some time now, but I never found the courage to write and post it. English isn't my native tongue (as you have figured out by now for sure), so I'll be thankful if you can tell me when my language gets too weird. However, don't judge me less hard because of this – writers grow with the critics they get.

* * *

It's been so long since I heard and saw all these things, or so it seems. In fact, it's barely a year since things began to change. I never thought I was special in any way, and I still don't think I'm special - not even now. Somehow, I was forced into all that. The insanity of fate has driven me into it, and the hardship of life has kept me there.

I'm tired now. So very tired.

I guess, Boris was angry after his team lost the World Championships, though he showed it in an untypical way: he stayed all alone in his office. Voltaire Hiwatari flew back to his appartement in Rome. Noone had expected the Demolition Boysto lose – Boris was the last one whowould havebelieved that.

Life couldn't go on like before, I knew it. However, I had no clue what was really going to happen. I didn't know how manipulative power could be – I knew nothing at all. Really nothing. And that would change just too soon.

In the morning after the world finals, Iwas sitting in the dinning hall and mused about the day before. However, it wasn't Tala's loss I thought about but Taylor. She was a great blader, perhaps even better than her best friend Tala, and she belonged to Boris' top students. Some had thought that she would be on the team for the championships. Boris hadn't chosen her, however. When Bryan had lost, she had shout at him and she had blamed Boris for trusting Kai – Voltair Hiwatari's grandson.

"She haa been acting strange since the very begin of the championship," Adrian said. He was a shy readhead with eyes of aqua blue and – what was more important – he was my best friend.

"Yeah, but yesterday, she behaved so… Well, she acted as if she was satisfied in some way. I mean, when Bryan lost, she freaked out and all, but after Tala's battle, she was calm," I told him. We had watched the battle on TV in the abbey, for we were too young to go to the stadium with Boris. "Taylor stayed here, too, though she would have been allowed to go. She was in the stadium all the time when Bryan, Spencer, or even Kai battled, and she always liked to go out, you know. Besides, Tala's her best friend, so why didn't she go to his battle?

"Why are you so interested in Taylor? Look, Riley, she has nothing to do with you."

"She has nothing to do with me, right,except for the fact thatmy brother really likes her."

He raised hiw eyebrows. "He does? How can you know that Mikael really likes her that much?"

"It's obvious." I sighed. "The two of them didn't get on the team, that connects somehow, I think. Besides, my big bro acts like a tamed lion around her."

"Compared to Fritz, he _is_ a tamed lion."

"I guess my brothers are all kind of weird. Look at Ethiopis: he can't add one and one together, he's like Fritz' shadow, and they still keep him, though he's too dump to tell his right hand from his left hand."

We laughed. My brothers weren't funny, and especially not for me, because they all picked on me the most.

"I wished I had a family anyway, even if I had brothers as worse as Fritz," Adrian finally said.

Rolling my eyes, I replied: "We can switch placesif you want. It's not like we're a family, you know that. I'm just their favourite victim, that's all."

"Anyway," Adrian mumbled. Changing the subject, he asked: "Do you want some tea?"

I shook my head. "No, thanks. I don't like that fishy tea. I wonder what's in it. Perhaps a drug?"

My friend sighed. "It's ordinary fruit tea."

"It tastes sweet."

"It's supposed to taste sweet."

"It's too sweet for me. I've tasted it once – it was horrible." By bitting into my piece of toast, I showed him that I didn't want to discuss the issue. I had made up my mind.

"It tastes like fruits. We often had fruit tea in the orphanage, because it keepts you healthy, it's full of vitamines." It was rare that Adrian told me about his time at the orphanage. I knew my "family", and I didn't miss them, because I knew they didn't miss me either. My sensitive friend, however, missed people he didn't even know. Perhaps he needed the hope – he loved to hope that there was woman who would have given him kisses and hugs, who would have whipped away his tears when he was scared or sad, if she just had been given the chance to do it. He didn't even know if he was abonded by his parents, if they were dead or if they were forced to give him away.

"They made children drink fruit tea," I responded when my mouth was empty again, "because it's cheap. I prefer cold water – even if it makes my teeth aching. By the way: Do you think Boris will get fired?" Eventually, I had spoken out aloud what I had mused about all the time.

Adrian hushed me. "We'll be in serious trouble if we talk about things like that!"

"Yeah, sure," I mumbled. "But who will overhear us?" Looking around, I noticed that we sat at our table in the corner all alone; nobody payed any attention to us – as always. The other kids around our age usually ignored or teased us.

"We never know," Adrian warned me. "And even if he gets fired, there might come someone much worse than Boris."

"Worse? I can't really imagine someone worse than Boris. He beats and punishes us, if we deserve it or not. He's sadistic and brutal. He grabs us and pushes us down to the floor everytime we lose when he's near. There must be a loser, he knows that – it's just logical. And remember when he made us scrubbing the kitchen floors for three hours for doing nothing. He's ill-temepered!"

"Yes, he is," Adrian admitted, "and I, too, wish he would go."

Suddenly, the noises in the dinning hall lowered. Adrian and I turned around our heads and looked at the entrance door. Holding their heads up, the D-Boys walked in – minus Bryan. Tala, Ian, and Spencer entered the hall and pretended not to notice that everyone glanced at them. They sat down at a table and beganeating breakfast just like always.

My left eye twickled. "Where's Bryan?"

"Maybe he's not hungry. Don't worry, he'll be okay."

"You don't understand, what if he's in trouble for losing us the championship?"

"Tala also lost, but he's here –fine and safe. Why are you so worried about Bryan now? He can look after himself."

"Who knows… Everybody needs help at times. And Bryan is okay. He treats me nicer than Mikael does, he's very intelligent, and he always helps."

"Sure, but he's way strange anyway. I mean, he's not supposed to have any emotion. I'm sure he's okay."

"I want to check that out, anyway. Be right back, okay?" Getting up, I hurried to get out of the hall.

Mikael treated me like a rat, and the others laughed and were encouraged to treat me the same way. Bryan, however, was a little bit more like a big brother, he was even a friend.

Racing up the stairs to the third floor, I took two steps at once. When I ran around the corner, I bumped into somebody. Hitting my head against someone's stomach, I fell down on my back.

"Be careful, brat! What are you doing here?"

Getting up quickly, I discovered against whom's stomach I had run. "Nothing Fritz," I mumbled and looked down at the floor.

Fritz – the second of my three brothers who lived in the abbey. He was very different from Mikael. Mikael was the one with a common sense; he didn't treat me kind, but he never humilated me without a reason, though even the little mistaked I made annoyed him. Fritz didn't need a reason to tease me, he just loved to be cruel, he enjoyed showing he was stronger. Ethipios, the third one, was simply stupid and always did what Fritz told him to do. In some way, Mikael took more care of me than of Ethiopis.

"Tell me another one. You're not allowed to be here, are you?"

"What do you care?" I replied. "Are you allowed to be here?"

His pale face turned into a deep red, and suddenly, his fist hit me hard on my forehead. Again, I fell down. My head ached and I whimpered quietly.

"Oh, stop being such a baby." Fitz walked past me. "You're a weakling."

I waited until he was gone before I dared to get up again. Holding my head where he had hit me, I went on. The memory of Taylor and Bryan's argument about the lost battle just two days before came into my mind, and I asked myself if it might be possible that Bryan was gone. Simply gone.

Why did this trouble me so much?

* * *

Flashback 

It was the first time I visited unit Delta. This was the part of the abbey where the science labs and development department could be found. Boris led me through long grey halls. The doors on the left handside and in the right handside were closed.

I had my blade in the pocket of my buggy pants and wrapped my fingers around it. Not knowing why Boris had taken me there, I was nervous. Could it mean any good that he had just told me to come with him before training? Had I done anything wrong lately?

Boris stopped in front of a glass wall and told me to wait. He went into the room that lay behing the glass wall. I glanced into the room and saw a well-known light hazelnut-haired boy, Mikael. My brother sat in the middle row – the room looked like a classroom – between Tala and Ian. The bladers – including the very best of Boris students – had their heads bend over folders, book, and notebooks. A young woman stood in front of the class, I could read some very difficult calculations with numbers, letters, and strange symbols on the blackboard.

My left eye twickled.

Boris talked to the woman, but I couldn't hear what he said. Then, Bryan got up and talked to Boris before leaving the room. Quickly, I turned around and looked away from the classroom.

"Come on, kid," Bryan said drily.

I followed him. This was going to be interesting, and I couldn't wait to see what was going to happen – and to tell Adrian. Finally, Bryan opened a massive metal door, and we reached another corridor; there, again, I saw through a glass wall and discovered several science labs behind the wall. Children, about my own age and older, worked there with adults or other older students. Their work looked interesting, and they seemed to be concentrated.

When Bryan had taken me into one of the labs, he eventually spoke to me: "First of all, I should tell you that science is not a game. Either you concentrate on everything you do and follow my orders, or you go away and don't come back. Understand?"

"Da." Trying to look into his cool lanvender eyes, I wanted to find out what he was thinking.

However, he turned away to avoid eye contact, and went on: "Can we begin?"

"Da," was all I said. In my opinion, Bryan sounded much too serious – after all, we were talking about science, that was a subject at school like math or geography.

Bryan hold up a glass tube that was filled with a colourless liquid. "Do you know what that is?"

I glanced at the tube. For sure, it was something chemical.

"I give you a clue: It's very important, and without it, you will die."

"A medicine," I responded softly.

"Guess again."

"I don't know."

"It's water."

"Really?"

He grinned. "Do you think I would lie to you?"

"No, of course not," I hurried to say, "it's just… you said it's important…"

"If you don't drink enough water, you will die, y'know?"

"Da."

Bryan rolled his lavender eyes. "Can you say something else than the Russian word for 'yes'?"

"Da… I mean, yes… I mean, yes, I can."

"Try to use only one language – either you speak Russian or English."

"We're not allowed to speak Russian. Well, I am not."

"Then use English."

"My English isn't that good, I fear. And I always speak Russian with Adrian, but we're in trouble if we get caught."

"I know. You can speak Russian with me if you like, but don't mix two languages. See, if you mix a language with one, two, or several other ones, you destroy the language. And destroying a language means destroying a country and a folk's identity."

He sounded just too serious, I thought. "I can speak English with you, no problem."

From that day on, I spent two hours a day in the lab with Bryan. At first, I had mixed feelings about Bryan's tutoring. He was strick and didn't seem to have a sense of humour when it came to science -or languages. However, he was patient and explained everything very well. When I had problems, he helped me, but we never talked about other things than learning. Bryan acted cold and distanced. Science and everything he taught me was interesting because it was a whole new world.

One day, I was late for Bryan's lesson. When I arrived in unit Delta, he was already waiting for me in front of his class room. Arms crossed in front of his chest, he glanced at me angrily.

"You're late," he said.

"I'm really sorry. I… erm, I played basketball and forgot our meeting," I lied. I knew it would offend him, and he would think that I rather played a stupid game than learning with him – which was not true and it hurt me to know that he might think ill of me, but it was better than telling the truth.

But somehow, Bryan knew I was lying. "What's that above your left eye?"

I was surprised. Carefully, I touched the bruise on my eyebrow. Of course, I had known I was injured, but I had thought that Bryan wouldn't care. "I walked into a door." Another lie.

"I see. And your shoulder?"

That was pathetic! Even if he cared about the bruise, how could he know about my shoulder? "I don't know what you are talking about."

"You're left-handed, but you touched your _left_ eyebrow with your _right_ hand, and your left shoulder is hanging down as if you were in pain."

"Someone bumped into me during the match." Hoping he would stop asking these questions, I went on: "Can we go?"

"Yeah, we already lost time thanks to you."

We walked to the lab in silence until Bryan asked: "How are you going to blade if your shoulder is injured?"

"I'm sure it will get better soon." To be honest, my shoulder ached terribly, it was blue and stiff.

"Boris will be angry if you can't. Did you win, at least?"

"No, we lost 2:4 – but my friend Adrian shot two goals within 13 minutes."

Bryan stopped. "I thought you played basketball."

"What?"

"At first, you said you had played basketball. How can someone shoot a goal during a basketball match?"

He had caught me lying. Well, not that I thought a lie was that bad. In fact, everyone lied, and I usually had no problem with lying to Mikael or any of my siblings, but somehow I felt bad about doing it to Bryan.

"Did you lie to me, Riley?" he asked calmly.

I didn't answer.

"I think I forget to tell you my rules. Well, one rule says you may not tell lies. So, I give you a chance to tell the truth now."

For another minute, I was silent before I began to speak: "I had a fight with Fritz. Nothing serious, just a little argument."

"A little argument means a bruised face and an injured shoulder for you? I see. Why did you argue?"

"I don't know."

"Is Fritz injured, too?"

"I don't know; I don't think so."

Bryan put his hand on my left shoulder; bitting my bottom lip, I tried to surpress tears. "It hurts, doesn't it?"

"It's not that bad."

"Move your arm!"

I liftes my hand.

"I told you to move your arm, not your hand."

Carefully, I tried to move my upper arm, but a sharp pain rushed through my shoulder and I could only cry quietly. Anyway, I assured Bryan I was okay.

"Don't lie to me – you've already lied to me twice, don't lie to me again."

Still, I could neither see what was so bad about _not telling_ him that I had an aching shoulder, nor why he made such a fuss over it. However, I wanted to show him that I could behave. "I won't, I promise."

Bryan nodded. "Good. So, you've learned enough for today. Come on, I need to take a look at your shoulder." Not waiting, he turned around and headed for another hall.

"You're Mikael's sister, aren't you?" he asked as we walked.

"Yeah."

"I feel pity for you. But you're a tough one." He stopped in front of a metal door which he opened. "Here we are."

The room was empty, except for a bed and some shelves on the wall. Bryan told me to sit down on the bed and took a green bottle from one of the shelves.

"Can you strip off you T-shirt? I need to see your shouler."

It turned out to be rather difficult to get out of the shirt without causing too much pain, but Bryan helped me pulling theshirt over my head.Then, he poured a cold, green liquid over my shoulder and rubbed it gently. The room was filled with a nice smell and it made me sleepy.

"Your shoulder will be alright again – it's just swollen and blue, but not broken."

I leaned my head against Bryan's hand that had rubbed my shoulder. "I'm sorry I caused trouble."

"Don't worry. As soon as you're okay again, we'll have extra lessons. Anyway, you're doing pretty good."

"It's a world if its own."

"What do you mean?"

"Learning."

"You're right, it really is a world of its own. And in a world where you have nothing, you can have knowledge."

"Yeah, yeah I do."

The both of us were friends to learning, and from that day on, we were friends to one another.

Flashback

* * *

"Bryan?" I knocked on his door.

No response. Silence.

"Bryan, it's me, Riley."

Still no reaction. Just silence.


	2. Wait and watch, little one

Author's note #2: I hope you enjoyed the first chapter. Well, I have some new plots for this story, but I have to write a few chapters before the first mysteries are discovered. The characters have to develop a little but at first, so that the story isn't too "flat".

* * *

When I went back to the English classroom, only Adrian was there and greeted my in quick Russian. "There'll be new battles to decide who'll be on the team. This afternoon!"

This was my chance to see Bryan. "And we'll watch them," I replied in the same tongue.

My friend gave me a strange look. "We can't – We're not good enough to battle against anyone like your brothers or Spencer."

"I said we would watch them – not battle them! Nobody will mind if we're there. So what are you worried about? C'mon, itshall be fun!"

"It is also fun to play softball."

"We can play softball any day."

Eventually, he agreed to come with me. I took out my English book and opened it on page 24. There was a text about King Henry VIII of England that I began to read. "English is difficult," I decided.

"You might be able to speak it more fluently if you tried to speak it more often."

"But I'm Russian, and you're Russian, too. Why should I speak English with you?"

"Because it is against the rules not to do it."

"The rules are dumb!"

Before I could add anything else, the other students and the teacher came in. During the lesson, Adrian and I sat in the last row and tried to talk about the battles, but our teacher, Miss Greta Gerkly, was very strict, especially when she caught someone speaking Russian.

If Bryan was still somewhere around, he would come. I hoped so.

At about 4 p.m. – right before tea time – Adrian and I sneaked out of the training hall for the youngsters to go to the battles for the top bladers. Nobody would notice we would be missing, I was sure.

When we reached the grounds where the battles would take place, we saw coaches walking around with papers. The bladers were preparing themselves and their blades. I saw Ian and Fritz in the middle of the hall. Adrian and I went into the main training room and walked around there without being noticed. We sat down near the battle fields, but still far away enough to be not seen too easily.

After half an hour, the battles began. Well, there wasn't really any battle. It was more complicated – and much more boring. About ten bladers started their blades at once, but they didn't attack one another but led their blades around the others.

"And what's the name of the game?" I looked around, rather disappointed. I could neither see Bryan, nor did I find the sense of the bladers' doing. That made me upset. "Do you think they have bit beasts?"

"I dunno. Maybe some of them have one."

Adrian and I didn't have a bit beast back then. We had been told that we would get bit beasts when we would have reached a certain level.

"Where are the real top bladers? I only see Fritz, but he's a loser. Do you think they're somewhere else? These tests and battles are stupid. C'mon, let's search for some action." I got up again.

"I'm afraid," Adrian admitted. "If we are caught – and I'm sure we will – we'll be in serious trouble, because were not allowed to be here."

"You can go. I don't want you to be punished because of me. However, I have to find Bryan."

He didn't follow me when I walked away, and I didn't look back. It hurt. The others called him a coward, but when I called him a coward, I really didn't mean it, I swear! Though I was disappointed, I didn't stop my search for Bryan.

After I had walked through the rooms and halls without any success, I was close to quitting my quest. At least, Boris was nowhere in sight, so I wouldn't be punished by him in case of being caught. Adrian was already gone.

Feeling rather out of place, I decided to go, too, and to make up another plan in order to find Bryan. Just when I turned around to leave, I noticed the D-Boys, Taylor, and Mikael coming out of a room that had been closed until then. They all looked rather exhausted – especially Ian and and my brother. Bryan walked next to Tala, and when I saw him, it was hard not to run over to him. Instead, I waited until Tala and the others were gone and Bryan stayed in the room with Taylor, talking to her. Not wanting to dusturb their conversation, I watched them a few more minutes until none of them talked anymore.

"Bryan!" I was sure he could hear all the happiness in my voice, though I tried to hide it.

He shot a strange look towards me. "You're around here?" His voice showed me he actually was exhausted, and perhaps even annoyed by me.

"Just wanted to check out if you're a okay, 'cause…," I whispered.

Taylor glared at me with her dark violet eyes, and a hand grabbed me by my neck from behind.

"What are you doing here, rat?" The voice sounded just too familiar.

I didn't even _try_ to fight Mikael's hand off. "Nothing. Just watching the battles…"

"There are no battles. Anyway, that's none of your buisness." Turning me around by my ear that he could look into my face, he added: "You'd better go and forget about everything you saw. Where's your little red-haired friend?"

"He's not here. I'm all alone."

Mikael pushed me down. Tala - who had come with him - crossed his arms in front of his chest and looked pretty annoyed. "You have better things to do, Mikael. So stop that nonsense!" he grumbled.

I got up quickly and turned around to look at Bryan, who ignored me angrily. When I walked past him, however, he mumbled very quietly, just loud enough for me to hear: "See you tomorrow."

At least, Bryan was okay.

I really didn't want to be upset about Adrian, but I couldn't help to act angrily around him. That hurt him. It was weird what we did: causing each other pain without really meaning it. Perhaps, it's just what all people do.

At night, in our dorm, I lay awake, and I was sure Adrian couldn't sleep either, but I didn't want to talk to him.

Right after breakfast, I went to unit Delta in order to meet Bryan. The classroom was empty, so I searched for him in the lab and found him there.

"What did you do yesterday?" I asked.

He shook his head. "I'll tell you later. We have a lesson now, remember?"

The lab was empry, we were the only ones there.

Bryan told me about the genetic of bit beasts. "Bit beats are old, but with the help of modern genetic science we are able to improve their natural powers and special abilities. Bit beasts have DNA like human-beings, that's the key."

"So they're like animals and men, because human-beings are like animals, right?"

Bryan smiled. "Correct. Now, let me show you how we improved Falborg."

After four fascinating hours, we were done. It was difficult to understand how to change a bit beast's DNA, but eventually, I got it.

"Do they do it with humans, too?" I asked.

Bryan ignored my question.

"Do they change and improve human DNA, too?" I repeated.

Bryan didn't answer but told me: "That was our last lesson."

"NO! W-why? No, please!"

"Listen, little one: Things change. And they change very quickly. You're clever, so be clever enough to take care of yourself. There are questions of honour you don't understand yet, because you're too young. But I hope you'll understand one day. Just wait, okay? Wait and watch."

Shaking my head, I said: "I don't know what the hell you're talking about."

He smiled. "Don't worry, I'm talking nonsense. Well, I'm going to a training camp for six weeks. I'll leave tonight."

"And why can't we continue the studies when you're back?"

"Things might be too different then."

"I don't understand…"

"Try to stay away from trouble, okay?" He gently brushed the short hair strains out of my face with his hand, but then he messed through my hair and made me giggle.

Inside, however, I felt sad. It was as if I had lost a friend forever. Forever was such a long time! "We'll meet again, won't we?"

For a second, Bryan looked sad, but then he said: "Da."

That night at dinner, when I saw Adrian again, I apologized in both Russian and English for being rude to him. Then, I told him about the things Bryan had said, and the two of us had no clue what was going tp happen.

"Perhaps, Boris got fired in the end," I mused.

"Might be possible. And who will take his place? Who will organize everything and train us?"

"Voltaire is gone. What if he dropped Boris' plans at all?"

"I'm scared," Adrian whispered.

Usually, I would have said something to comfort him, but that night I just couldn't. "Why? I'm also scared, but I don't know why."

"I don't know it either."

We were just two little children. Too little to deal with the cruel things, lonely, clueless, and innocent. Yes, we were innocent in all this, but everything was happening to _us_. Though we were so little.


	3. Beginning of troubles

The following days and weeks showed that there was no reason to be scared. The next morning, Adrian and I walked to the dinning hall while having a lively conversation in Russian. Suddenly, Miss Glerky walked out of her office and glanced at us. Taken by surprise, the two of us seemed to loose our English language skills.

"Good morning, ma'am," we greeted her in Russian.

"Morning, kids," she replied in the same tongue and walked past us without looking back.

Last time she had caught me speaking another language than English, I had had to write an English sentence ("I'm not allowed to speak Russian or any other slavic language, for they're barbaric.") until my hand had felt numb.

"She must be on drugs or something," I decided.

After breakfast, we went to the training center, but they told us to go again.

"What are we doing now? I mean, why don't we have to train? That's strange!"

Adrian was even more worried. "What if they throw us out?"

"Can you steal?"

"Well, not really well."

We were heading to the yard. "Don't worry, I'll show you. Imagine: sleeping outside, no English, doing what you want to do – that's freedom."

"I don't know, Riley. For sure, I'll have to go back to the orphanage again."

"Then run away. There's no place I can go to – except for the whole world! Do you really want to go back to the orphanage?"

"No, but where else could I stay?"

"Everywhere with me! Look, we just have to stick together, kay?"

Outside, there lay fresh snow, and maybe that was the last fresh snow we would have this winter. I dug my hand into the cool white snow and picked up a handfull of it. The snow was about two feet high near the street. Other abbey-kids were in the yard as well, playing in the snow in larger groups.

"What abour your family?" Adrian asked.

I formed the snow to a ball in my naked hands.

"Riley?"

Lifting my left hand, I smashed the ball into Adrian's face.

"Hey!" he protested.

However, I threw another ball in his direction. "Snowball war!" I laughed.

While I giggled, Adrian got himself a snowball, too, and hit me on the forehead with it. He hit the lump I had got from Fritz two days before, but I just rubbed my forehead and prepared to strike back. I pushed my friend into the snow and fell, too.

At lunchtime, our faces, ears, and hands were red and felt icy. However, we were even kind of happy after our games in the snow. None of the others paid any attention to us.

When Bryan had told me he would be away for over a month, I had thought I would miss him and the lessons, but I didn't. Playing with Adrain, just like normal kids, was great! The next four weeks were some of the bestof my life.

We played hide and seek everywhere in the abbey, we chased each other through the old parts of the building, and after lunch or dinner we would sit in our dorm alone and tell us stories, or draw pictures. During this time of fun and games, we didn't argue, and I didn't call Adrian a coward. This time, I knew, was too precious to waste. We had played softball, football, or basketball before with other kids to get physical strength, but not to have fun. These games were different.

Other kids had to practice still, and I didn't notice that some of them disappeared. And our happy times would end, too, much too soon.

One morning, Miss Glerky told me to go to the training centre after breakfast – without Adrian. And when I was there, I had to blade again. I had to blade without hardly a break. It was a monotone work after a while, not like learning. While I was blading, I had to concentrate on the battle. The first few times, I guess, I did it all right and I won, but after a while, I became unconcentrated and I lost the battle. Julie-Ann, the girl I had fought against, laughed satisfied.

Rolling my eyes, I wanted to walk away, but someone shouted: "Hey, little loser!" Fritz grabbed me by my upper arm and turned me around to face me.

"Try to find someone who's as stupid as you!" I put my tongue out at him.

"We don't get cheeky, do we?"

"I don't know what you're doing, but if you're to dumb to notice, I can tell you that I did get cheeky!"

He slapped me across the face. The others standing around us laughed. My cheeks turned red, not only because of the beating, but also because of my anger.

Fritz went on: "You're a loser, and I wonder why you're even here."

"Because I'm better than you!" I replied.

Lifting his hand, he wanted to beat me again.

"Do you fear a fair beybattle?"

He raised his eyebrows. "Against you? Never!"

Pulling me towards the battle field, he made a big show out of humilating me. He always treated me like that. He was taller and stronger – it was like kind of a game for him. Just like a toy – a doll – I had never been able to defend myself. Will that ever change, I asked myself. And all my anger rushed up to my head at once.

The both of tookour places at the dish, preparing ourselves. I was sure I didn't want to know what might happen if I lost this time.

"3, 2, 1… Let it rip!" We launched our blades at the same time. They raced across the dish, each preparing to attack the other one any moment. Fritz' blade was faster than mine, and I didn't know how to make mine faster or stronger. His blade hit mine again and again, it was a wonder he didn't throw it out with the first five or six strikes. I had to react, or the battle would be over too soon.

Just don't panic, I told myself, think!

Closing my eyes, I concentrated on the battle. How would it be if I won? My blade could be strong as well,Icould beatFritz and strike back with more power! Opening my eyes again, it was as if I made my blade drag my brother's away with just my thoughts.

Focus on the battle! Yeah, that's the way it works, I thought satisfied. _I can do it!_

All I now saw was the dish and the battle; nothing else mattered anymore but my revenge.

_I'm not a weakling! Strike back, now!_

It felt great to have such power. Then, suddenly and unexpected, my blade pushed the other one out of the dish.

_I won! I really did it! I won!_

Looking up, I saw Fritz staring at me in disbelief. He was too shocked to say anything, for he had never thought that I might beat him. And neither could I believe what I had just done. However, others had seen it, and even some of the coaches had. Not one of them had thought that I might win – or at least, not that fast, or that easy. It had been easy, it had been quick, and I had shown strength.

"Come on, kiddo," one of the coaches said.

Suddenly, my stomach dropped and I had the feeling that I was in trouble. In very bad trouble indeed, but to be honest, I had no clue how bad the trouble would really be. And it would turn out to be a very great misery – but not at first.

Walking over to the man who had called for me, I ignored the strange looks everyone gave me (and there were about 30 people around there).

"Who the hell did tell you to do that, kiddo?" he shouted at me.

I bit my bottom lip, but there was nothing I could say that would make him ease his temper.

"You're not here to kid around; we have plans, and we don't have much time, so if you're just causing trouble, wasting your time by battling someone who's stronger anyway…"

"What is going on here?" A sharp voice interrupted him. Everyone who had kept staring at the scene now looked to the doors and saw Boris. Slowly, as if he was very tired, he walked over to us. He had dark rings under his eyes, and rubbed his head the way he always did when he had a headache.

"Mr. Balkove, I…," the man tried to explain himself.

However, Boris wasn't in the mood for explanations. "Oh,dave it! All of you, why aren't you training?"

Before he could shot the other kids more angry looks, they quickly turned around again and did what they had to do.

"Fritz, I should say that on the one hand, I'm disappointed in you," he told my brother who had come over to us as well, "but on the other hand, I'm happy about what I've just seen from your _little_ sister."

Oh, I just knew Fritz would make me pay bitterly for this humilation.

"How did you do that, Riley?"

Bitting my bottom lip, I whispered. "I dunno."

Suddenly, something sparkled in Boris' eyes. "Then we'll have to find out, I think."

Even if it was great what Ihad doneduring the battle, it scared me. And Boris scared me even more, for the expression on his face told me more than I wanted to know. Though Boris had never seriously hurt me, I knew how cruel he could be, I knew it well enough to be glad that he had never been really angry at me. The little beatings and punishments from him had taught me enough.

All in all, this couldn't mean _any_ good. What if I wasn't able to do again what Ihadjustdonewith my brother? Then, I would be in verydeep trouble…

"I think, we'll find out what you really can before the team is back, won't we?" Boris grinned and told me to follow him.

He brought me to the training rooms of the Demolition Boys, where now other bladers were practicing with the high technology. All kids in this room had been average bladers just three of five days before, and now they were allowed to train with the top.

Was Boris really searching for new talents _that_ desperately?

Putting his hand on my shoulder, Boris dragged me to a group of bladers. "C'mon, don't be shy, girl." Talking to one of the coaches, he said: "Take the kid in for today – I want to have the report within twelve hours!"

The coach looked at me and shook his hand. "Too young – too small and too weak, if you ask me."

Boris pushed me forward, as if I was a doll. "Just do it, and don't question my orders, or I'll make you regret it. You have twelve hours. We need success! No failures. So she'd better be tested quickly." He turned around at his heels and walked away.

The tests were difficult, but all kind of the same. I had to blade, sometimes against another blader, and sometimes against a machine. I concentrated on winning, just like I had done when I had battled Fritz. I banned everything else from my mind. After a few times, I felt the speed of my blade in my hands and its power rushed through my body as if it was a part of me. The feeling was great at first, but very tiring, too. Time passed by very slowly, and every second sucked more power out of me. After a while, my ears were aching inside because my throat was too dry, and I was breathing heavily. However, I had to go on and on until I saw dots in front of my eyes because of the pain in my head.

Perhaps, the others felt the same way, perhaps not. I didn't talk to any of them, I didn't care against whom I fought against. There was just my blade and its moves.

"Enough for today," someone told me, eventually.


	4. Inner wounds

A/N: Well, so far nobody replied to my story, but it is great fun to write it anyway.

* * *

My head pounded as I lay down on my bed. Adrian sat down next to me, and I told him what had happened. The dorm was a large room with sixteen beds that looked like old iron hospital beds: white blankets, sheets and pillows and very uncomfortable matresses. About ten other children very busy playing cards.

"You're becoming Boris' pet," Adrian joked.

I rolled my eyes. "If that means having a headache all the time, I don't know if I'm too happy about it. Anyway, Mikael will kill me when he's back."

"Why?"

"I humilated Fritz."

"Fritz humilated you all the time!"

I yawned. "Maybe."

"I can't wait to be tested, too," Adrian said. He lay down, too, and crossed his arms behind his head.

"Why?"

"I want to prove that I'm not that bad at everything."

Maybe he was too soft and a coward, but he wasn't a bad blader, and he was very athletic. I wanted to reply something, but I could only yawn again. Our heads touched one another.

"Good night," Adrian mumbled.

"Night." I blinked and saw his firy red hair before I closed my eyes and fell asleep.

"Wake up, brat!" Something hit me hard on my head. Having my eyes closed, I could hear Adrian breathing next to me. Not wanting to wake him up as well, I tried to get onto my feet, but fell down on the floor.

Fritz was standing there when I finally got up again.

"What are you doing here?" I whispered.

"Don't be cheeky – or do you want to wake up your little boyfriend? I was told to go and get you!"

"He isn't my boyfriend. And what are you doing here in the middle of the night?"

"It's half past five. That is part of the training programme of the top bladers. If you don't get along with it, you'd better leave."

Rubbing my nose, I followed Fritz. We went to the training rooms. There, I got a few slieces of bread, but nothing to drink. By then, I hadn't drunk anything in about 24 hours, because there had been no water for supper the day before, only fruit tea.

Again, I had to battle, though I still felt dizzy. Though I didn't see Fritz, I knew he was watching me, and he was angry.

Eventually, I had to go to Boris' office. It was a large, but dark and ugly room, and it smelled old and dead. There wasn't even a computer or any sign of high technology. The room could have also belonged to the 19th century.

"Nearly everything is positive," the coach said.

Boris nodded. "I'm surprised, really. I didn't notice how good some of our bladers are. That was a mistake, I guess."

Gaspadin seemed satisfied; usually, I felt scared in his presence, but he was in an unusual good mood that day.

"You've found something in blading… Try to keep it, and I promise I will make you a champion one day, such as your brother is," he told me.

And this sentence surprised me. I had never before thought about becoming a champion, but as he mentioned it… I had found something in blading, yes, and this feeling was somehting I really liked. Smiling inside, I went back to training.

I had to get up at the same early time every day, and when I got to bed after fourteen or more hours, I fell asleep immadiately and couldn't talk to Adrian. Though I did miss our conversations, and all the games and fun, I enjoyed blading more and more. It was a great feeling when I got better, even though it was exhausting.

Boris hid in his labs again and didn't let anyone come near him. After a while, I stopped counting the days, I ate and drank less, but my body didn't show any signs of being exhausted.

Once, when I picked up my blade after a battle, something hit me in my neck, and I felt hot blood running down my back.

"Ah!" I pressed my hand against the wound. Turning around, I saw Fritz and his crowd of jerks (including Ethiopis) standing a few paces behind me.

"You're a crying baby – so what are you doing here?" Fritz picked up his blade that he had shot at me. It had returned to him automatically, but this was nothing but an impressive trick. Just a trick.

I tried to ignore my brother, but he shouted other insults.

Don't pay attention to him, he's just a stupid jerk. No tears, don't cry! No tears, I told myself.

Eventually, he said something which surprised me the most: "Try to beat me now, bastard!"

Just then, I realized how much I had bruised his pride when I had beaten him; and I knew he would pay me back. However, I couldn't ignore his challenge, even if I knew that it might be a dangerous challenge. Just once, I wanted to keep my pride.

"No problem, I'll kick your butt within a minute!"

Fritz grinned. "You're that confident? I'll teach you a lesson you'll never forget!"

There were three or four coaches at the far end of the room, and they could easily pretend to have seen or heard nothing. So we could start our battle right there.

We took our positions around the dish, ready to launch our blades. Stupid me, I really should have known that Fritz had a special weapon…

"3, 2, 1… Let it rip," Ethiopis bellowed.

The match started, and just when I wanted to attack him first, my so-called brother showed me what he had in store for me: "Coyborg, attack!" A shining shadow-coyote appeared above his blade.

"A bit-beast?" I nearly fell backwards.

Fritz was satisfied. "Are you surprised, little rat?"

Then, everything happened pretty quickly. I saw a green and a red flash light before I felt a hot pain in my shoulder when an invisible power hit me.

The next thing I remember is lying on the floor, the metallic taste of blood in my mouth. Every part of my body was aching when I tried to move. Especially my nose hurt, for I had fallen on my face and rolled over to my side. The pain took away my breath.

"Are you crazy, boy? You're not supposed to use and waste this power _that_ way." It was Tala's voice.

Getting up as quickly as I could (which wasn't _really_ quickly in fact), I saw Tala, Ian, Taylor, Bryan and Mikael standing behind Fritz. Tala shouted at him, and Mikael seemed to be angry at him, too. They all looked at me for a second. Etiopis and the others didn't dare to move either, for they were shocked about the D-Boys sudden appereance.

"Go away, all of you!" Mikael demanded.

Not wanting to get into more trouble, I walked away slowly and left the hall, though the pain was still torturing me all the while.

My head was poundering when I entered the yard. It was icy, the snow wasn't soft and fresh anymore, but hard and frozen. The thought of previous battle made me shiver – it had been terrible. The power of Coyborg, the way to use it, being so powerless and weak… and Bryan.

He had looked at me like Taylor, or Mikael - as if he didn't care.

"Stupid kid, sulking vult," I blamed myself.

He _had_ talked about changes, I remembered. If this change meant losing my friend… No, I had never needed anything like patience, so why… My head began to ache even more. "Loser, fool!" Tears streamed down my face, and the tears just wouldn't stop anymore. There came more and more…

For an hour or even longer, I sat outside in the snow, my arms slung aroung my knees, rocking myself back and forth. The battle had been too short to feel all the fear, but now I _did_ feel it, and it made me shudder and I had to cry even more. After a while, pain and fear became one and disappeared behind the streams of tears.

That night, I searched for Adrian but couldn't find him. The dorm was empty, there was no one at all. All alone, I lay in the darkness, knowing my only friend was gone. However, I couldn't cry, the tears were dried and there were no more. I just felt wounded inside – lonely, weak, and scared. The night was cold, and there was no way to get warm.

"I hate changes!"

A few weeks before, Adrian and I had played in the snow like wild children, we had had snowball wars and all that… Now, these times were over, though I didn't want to believe it. I wanted my friend back, and the lessons with Bryan. These had been the two only things in my life I had loved ( - I had loved Bryan, too, but I was sure he didn't care about me, so why should it bother me?)

I went to the dinning hall in the morning after my battle with Fritz, hoping to meet Adrian there, but instead there were other kids who looked at lists that hung on the wall. The tables were empty, and nobody even thought about having breakfast. I, too, was more curious than hungry.

When I recognized some names on the lists, I got an idea: _Search for Adrian's name!_ Hoping that it would lead me to my friend…

After ten minutes, I even found his name on one of the lists: Adrian Nicovlov. According to the list, he was training in the basement.

Just as I wanted to head for there, someone grabbed me by me upper arm from behind.

"Where do you think you're going?"

I turned around to see the one who hold me back. "Bryan?"

He didn't reply anything but dragged me to the far end of the dinning hall, where others were already waiting for something. There were the D-Boys, Mikael and a few youngsters – including Julie-Ann, who whispered something like "loser" when seeing me.

However, I ignored her and Bryan pulled me down to make me sit next to him.

"Everyone's here?" Tala looked at his team mates.

"Taylor's missing," Ian said. The D-Boys glanced at Mikael.

My brother shrugged. "I guess she's still sleeping."

Just then, a very messed up girl joined the group, trying to put up her dark blue hair in a high ponytail. "Sorry, I slept in." Taylor yawned.

Tala rolled his eyes. "It would have been a wonder if you had been punctual."

She gave the red.head an innocent look and sat down next to Mikael.

"So, if you think you're prepared for this, we can start," Tala told everyone; and it seemed to me that everyone knew what he was talking about – everyone but me!

"Let's just go, kay?" Tala wasn't one for big speeches – not like Boris was. "And if the two of you," he said and glanced at Taylor and my brother, "think that you can behave, you can come as well."

Bryan grimaced, but said nothing when Taylor complained about Tala's words. "I didn't do _anything_ – at least, not today."

"I just wanted to make sure that you aren't _going_ do anything – at least, not this morning," Tala replied.

This behaviour was so… childish? Human! I had never though of Taylor, Bryan, Tala, or my brother as friends who kidded around and had fun-arguments.

Adrian, the thought came back to my mind, where are you?

Tala paired us up into groups when we were in the training center. The others took out their blades, and just then, I realized I hadn't mine anymore. When had I used it for the last time? The battle against Fritz… I had forgotten it because-

"What are you waiting for?" Julie-Ann complained. Tala had told us to work together for this morning.

I bit my bottom lip; for sure, I would be in deep trouble if I told anyone I had forgotten my blade.

"Riley!" Mikael came over to me; his hand outstretched, he opened his fist. "That's yours? At least, what's left of it…" In his hand, I saw my broken blade, hardly enough was left to recognize it. The metal was melted on the edge of the blade, the power wring was totally broken. I took it from my brother's palm.

"And how do you think you can blade with that, loser?" Julie-Ann interrupted.

Mikael shrugged, showing me it was none of his buisness. "Bryan will take care of that."

So I had to go to Bryan with my broken beyblade. He was just explaining something to three other kids, when I found him in the great hall.

As he was finished, he saw me and rolled his eyes. "Why did you accept the challenge at all? You won't be able to battle with that blade anymore. By the way, you should be glad that you didn't get seriously injured."

I looked down at the gorund.

"You're okay, aren't you?"

"Sure."

"Try this one." The lavender-haired teen took something out of his pocket: a white and olive coloured beyblade. However, it looked different than my old one. When I hold it, I couldn't wrap my fingers around it for it was too big, and the edges were pretty sharp.

"Your old one was too small for an international standarized battle. At first, it will be hard for you to control this new type of beyblade, but you'll get used to it. Tala thinks you're too small, so you should better prove that you're not." The tone of his voice told me that he wasn't in the right mood for small-talk.

"Thank you," I mumbled.

"Don't thank me too soon. See you tonight – if you're good enough…"

Bryan had been right. It was harder to control the new blade, but as soon as I knew how to control it; the power was enormous. At top speed, it threw Julie's blade out of the arena again and again, and it's strength nearly overpowered me, but it was great, just great!

"I think the two of you should stop now," Taylor said in the early afternoon. She seemed really bored of being the coach. "You've been battling for hours, and the same blader won every time."

"Hours?" I was surprised.

The older girl ignored what I had said. "Wait here," she told me and took Julie-Ann to another room.

I looked around in the high-ceiled hall, trying to find out what the others were doing. About 10 or 11 other kidswere there, but there had been like 16 or 17 at the beginning. Bryan walked over to me.

"You're getting along with the blade?"

"Yeah, it was awesome," I answered enthusiastically.

His face stayed emotionless. "How comes you improved your skills so fast?"

"Huh?" I blinked. "I just do what I always do."

The teen looked down at me. "No. I just watched you blading. You got control over your blade pretty easy."

"I don't understand what you mean," I replied honestly.

Bryan shook his head. "Never mind. It's four o'clock – English tea time." He smiled weakly, but I felt that something was wrong… very wrong indeed!

The both of us walked over to the far end of the hall where other had already helped themselves and ate some bread and cheese. I was the hell thirsty, but there was only tea, and no water.

For some reason, Bryan behaved nearly overprotective: he gave me food, and a drink, but when I didn't drink, he gave me a puzzled look.

"You're not thirsty?"

"I am, but this stuff tastes fishy – I never drink it."

Again, Bryan gave me the same look he had given me when I had told hom I hadn't noticed my improvement. Why did he sometimes act so distanced, and sometimes he was so worried about me? I missed Bryan; the one who had learned with me and taken care of me when I was injured. Now, he didn't care when I was hurt, but when something quite ordinary happened. That was really annoying!

Tala came over to us with a list. "Bryan, have you seen Taylor lately?"

"Last time I saw her, she took the other girl away," Bryan replied.

The redhead looked down at me. "She's still too small."

"She did pretty well."

"Are you impressed? Who wonders…"

"No, Tala. Ask Taylor if you don't trust my judgement; she was with the kids all morning."

Tala's eyes were pinted on me. Shyly, I dared to look back. His yes were aquablue, like… I shivered – I had seen this look and these eyes before! The very same colour, the very same light around the iris…

I was so shocked that I looked at him with my mouth wide open.

Playfully, Bryan put a finger into my mouth. "Shut your mouth again, kid – or do you want to catch flies?"

"Whatever," Tala mumbled, "I don't care about your buisness. You're the one responsible for the youngsters' training, and I'm going back to my own buisness tomorrow."

Bryan sighed. "Don't be cranky. C'mon," he grabbed Tala by his upper arm and dragged him away.


	5. Darkness falls

After I had eaten, training continued. However, I couldn't concentrate on blading anymore; there was something else on my mind: Tala's eyes… Adrian's eyes…

They were the very same; I had never seen such similarities…

"Stop that!" Bryan shouted.

I bit my bottom lip when my blade was thrown out of the battle field.

"I told you she was too young." Tala grinned. "Forget about the kid, dude."

Taylor and Mikael were outside the training room, talking to each other. They didn't seem to care about anything except their conversation. Tala walked over to them.

When he was gone, Bryan came to me. "What do you think you're doing? You have to concentrate on the things you're doing, kid!"

"I try," I defended myself.

"Don't _try_ it, _do_ it! You did very good an hour ago. Did anything change?"

Can I tell him about the thing I discovered, I asked myself, and decided against it. I had no proof, perhaps my mind was just playing a trick on me or something. "I'm worried about Adrian; I haven't seen him in a very long time."

The lavender-haired boy sighed. "If that's that what's troubeling you… If I promise to find out where your friend is, will you concentrate on the battle now?"

"I promise," I said. I was not used to people being patient on me, and helping me when I had a problem.

Bryan smiled weakly. "Okay, let's start again."

We went back to battling, and Tala rejoined us, just when I kicked my opponent's blade out if the arena. Knowing Bryan would tell me where Adrian was calmed me down a lot.

"That was… good," Tala finally admitted.

Before dinner, Bryan took me to one of the labs in the training area whrere I had to sit down.

"What are you doing?"

"You need a few vaccinations." He took a syringe out of a box on the table. "This one is against polio, and you'll get another one against tetanus today."

"Why?" I didn't see why I needed an injection against illnesses. "I never get sick."

"You can't know that – and I want you to be vaccinated against it, in case something happens. Imagine you have a little wound - on your finger maybe - then you can get tetanus very easily and if nobody helps you then, you'll be in great pain, and maybe you'll die."

Bitting my bottom lip, I reached out my arm and Bryan gave me the first injection. "And I have to take your blood sample." He did it all very gently.

"If I got ill, would you help me then?" I asked while he gave me the second injection.

"Of course, I would; why do you ask?"

"Once, when I was very ill, Mikael didn't help me, and he didn't care. Why would you do something my own brother wouldn't?"

Bryan looked straight into my eyes and put his hand on my cheek. "Riley, your brother is… I mean, I'm not like your brother. I don't know what he has on his mind, but I know what I couldn't see you suffering, because you didn't deserve it."

"And when I am naughty?"

"You're not naughty, little one. I know that Boris and others sometimes tell you that, but it's not true. They just don't know how to do it better, that's all. It's not your fault; you're not a naughty kid, and you didn't deserve pain or anything bad, okay?"

"Neither do you." I shrugged. "I don't need anyone to take care of me – just like you."

"But someone who looks after you from time to time." He smiled. "Let's say, I look after you a little bit, and you look after me a little bit, agree?

"Agree!"

"I have a question: Why didn't you drink anything today?"

I rolled my eyes. "The tea tastes fishy, I don't like it."

"You did never drink it?"

"No."

"Then you have to do me a favour: Never do that!"

Giving him a strange look, I asked: "Why?"

"I'll explain it later. By the way: I found out that your friend is trainig with another group – including your other brothers. Wait a few days, and you can see him again."

"Really? You're the greatest!"

"Maybe in this country, yeah…" He laughed, and it was rare that he really laughed.

The day had been really exhausting, so I couldn't wait to go back to my dorm and go to sleep, but Bryan didn't let me; instead, he told Taylor to bring me to another room. She took me to the third floor in the western part of the building.

There, the rooms looked mainly like my old dorm: metall beds, matresses, bare walls and floors. And the beds were as hard as usual; but now, I only had to share my room with three other girls, and one of my roommates happened to be Julie-Ann.

Crawling into my bed, I ignored her and the other two girls and fell asleep immadiately.

It was very cold outside the other day; my hands were aching, they turned red and felt hot, then they got numb. I tried to hide them in my pockets as often as possible, but I couldn't launch my blade without my hands; and when they got stiff, I couldn't launch my blade either.

I was training in the yard with some others under Bryan's supervision. The rest of the D-Boys was nowhere to be seen, neither were Taylor or Mikael.

Being occupied with my hands, I couldn't focus my concentration on battling; plus my nose was running. The chill was nearly driving me insane. It hadn't been that cold the last years, I was sure about that.

At lunch time, when we went back into the building in order to get something to eat, Boris wanted to see Bryan and me in his office. The day had started in the physical chill, now it would continue with psychical cold. However, being in Boris' office together with Bryan didn't scare me that much, though I didn't really expect Bryan to protect me if Boris was really angry. It was simply his presence that made me feel a lot better.

Gaspadin sat behind his desk and looked at me with his small, angry eyes.

"Do you think you can trick me?"

Bryan, standing behind me, replied: "Is there anything wrong?"

"Is there anything wrong? Well, Bryan, my clever boy, much is wrong – even with your little friend. I once told you that special vitamins in the fruit tea make the children strong and healthy."

I turned around and looked at Bryan, but he kept glancing at Boris. "The girl is good enough, she doesn't need it."

"Oh, and she could be a lot better if she would have the same vitamines as the others. Well, well… you think you know it better, and could trick me. I saw the kid's blood sample."

"She's allergic to it," Bryan said quickly.

"Allergic? I see. Leave us alone, Bryan."

"I can-"

"GO AWAY!" Boris bellowed

His voice and anger made me shiver. Bryan had no choice but to go. So I was all alone and the fear came very fast.

"Bryan talks too much," Boris whispered. "You can speak for yourself, child, can't you? Well, well…" Getting up from his chair, he walked over to me. Taking my chin between his thumb and his index finger, he pressed his nails into my flesh. "I don't think that girls are good bladers. You know why? I don't think they're very clever – not in the way I prefer. And I hate the ideas of Voltaire. Can you imagine Russia being the same, monotype country as the U.S.? No, we're a country of our own, and we neither need American support, nor the American ideals and threir famous way of life. And I don't need Voltair!" Having said these last words, he pushed me down to the floor. "Being soft in children is always a mistake."

I didn't understand what Boris was talking about. I didn't understand anything – back then.

"Let's see how long it takes me to make you a good girl."

Darkness was all around me. I lay on the stone floor, my back leaning against the wall. It smelled really bad – like wet, dead animals -, but after a while, I had a running nose and didn't smell anything anymore.

It was cold and I was lonely. Boris had overreacted and had locked me up in a cell in the cellar. At first, I lay there very still, just sniffing every once in a while. Darkness all around me. Endless darkness. After a while, I got up and walked around in order to find out how big the room was.

I lost my track of time. Was it night or day? I had no clue. I didn't know if hours or just minutes passed by while I was lying there, sniffing and shacking. Hunger and thirst came, but nothing else. No light, no help – only more suffering. All I could do was waiting for Boris' anger to go away again. Nothing happened. I didn't really notice how I fell asleep very slowly. A few times, I woke up again because I was cold, hungry, or thristy. Every once in a while, I woke up because I had to cough so hard that my lungs began to ache. How long I lay there – half awake, half asleep – I didn't know.

Eventually, I woke up because of something else than hunger, cold, thirst, or pain.

"Riley?" Something – or someone – touched my shoulder. "Riley, wake up," a familiar voice whispered through the darkness.

"Adrian? What are you doing here?" I felt his shoulder touching mine as he was sitting next to me.

"I tried to steal the key in order to bring you some food, but I got caught and Boris had me locked up here, too."

"He's still angry?"

"Voltaire – it's Voltaire he's angry at. He doesn't want to support Boris anymore. They're arguing, that's the only reason for his anger, Bryan says. It was him who told me where you might be."

"Did Bryan also tell you what's going on here?"

"No, he didn't tell me much at all."

"For how long have I been in here?" I asked.

"More than 30 hours, I think. It stinks, and it's cold."

"And I am the hell thirsty." My throat and my mouth were so dry that I couldn't swallow.

Adrian giggled. "Guess what I have right here? I could save the water and food I stole. Here you are." I felt his hands searching for mine, and when he had found them, he pressed something cold into them.

"A bottle? Adrian, you're the best!" In the darkness, I somehow managed to open it, and drank quickly. Never had water tasted that sweet and fresh before.

"It was difficult, but I could hide it under my sweater. I have bread, too. Do you want some?"

Peacefully, we ate little slices of bread, picking them up, holding them between thumb and index finger, and putting them into the mouth.

"You're the greatest," I told him.

Even the darkness wasn't that dark anymore. We cuddled up together and the both of us fell into a deep sleep.

"Adrian, you're awake?" I asked when I felt him move.

"Da."

I put my head on his shoulder, and he put his head on top of mine. Sitting there like this for a while, we glanced into the darkness. I could imagine his blue eyes – Tala's eyes…

"Adrian, do you remember anything about your family? Siblings or cousins? Do you know about them?"

My sudden question must have surprised him, but he answered calmly: "No, I don't. Why do you ask?"

"I was just curious."

"Well, I know that my last name isn't my real last name. They changed it when I was with foster parents once. But I don't remember my real last name. I would love to have a brother, or a sister. Little siblings I can take care of."

"And what about a big brother?"

"Are we talking about a certain person, Riley?"

"No, no." I should really have stopped bothering him with my questions. Might Tala be a good brother? For sure, he would be like Mikael. And Adrian deserved better than that.

Boris' anger turned into enthusiasm. Half a day later, he told Spencer to take us out of the cell again. It was already dark outside, but the lamps in the halls hurt my eyes just as bad as the sunlight might have.

The dinning hall was nearly empty because so many children were gone – forever. Spencer made us sit among the other children; Adrian and I didn't talk anything to one another, we only enjoyed each other's company in silence.

"The food tastes strange," I told Bryan, who was sitting across the table.

"That's borschk," he said. "Traditional Russian queue."

"They never cook Russian food!"

Bryan didn't reply anthing, neither did Adrian. The only thing Bryan did for the rest of the evening was watching me wherever I went to.

I couldn't sleep that night. My body had taken all the rest it had needed during the past two days. When I could be sure that the others in my room were asleep, I sneaked out of the room. Walking through semi-dark corridors, I tried to order my mind again, but I couldn't even think straight ahead. Where could Adrian be right now? I had forgotten to ask him where he slept.

It was strange to see the well-known halls and corridors downstairs totally empty. Usually, there were crowds of people, but at night, the abbey was like a different place. It was peaceful – I liked that. Wandering around barefoot, I even _felt_ like in a whole new place. All alone, I could go to anywhere I liked to. Though I really liked Bryan, I was glad he wasn't there to watch over me.

And before the morning rose again, I was back in my bed and nobody would ever know about my walking-around at night.

Things were very different the next morning. Everybody spoke Russian during breakfast – loudly, clearly, and proudly. Even Bryan and Tala talked to each other in Russian when I sat down at the table. Adrian was already there, too, but he wasn't wondering.

"It was like that a little bit when Boris began to argue with Voltaire," he told me.

"They haven't totally broken up yet," Taylor, who sat between Tala and Mikael, said. Even Taylor spoke Russian, but she she had a slight and strange accent. Since I knew her, she had spoken English differently as well – more fluent than even Boris or the teachers, and with pleasure.

"Where will you do when they do?" Mikael ask.

"_If_ they do," Taylor corrected. "And even _if_ they do, I will stay here. The abbey belongs to Boris' – or that's what he tells me."

"I don't know if I like that," Bryan mumbled, and I secretly agreed.

"And I don't know if it's really good when Taylor speaks Russian – it sounds weird, and wrong," Tala mumbled.

"What do you mean?" She raised her eyebrows.

"I mean that your Russian isn't very Russian." Tala shook his head.

"Oh, shut up, wolf boy."

"Just telling the truth…"

Adrian shot me a confused look, and I shrugged.

"Are they always like that?" he whispered.

"Well, I have seen them like that before – I don't know… Guess even they are human in some way."

Bryan cleared his throat and looked at me as if he wanted my attention, but he talked to Tala: "If Boris and Voltaire broke up, nothing will be left for Boris' – so I better wish for that."

I didn't understand what he really meant, but I could figure out he had wanted me to hear it because it was important.

Taylor, however, didn't think it was good news. "Stop telling such garbage, Bryan. Who do you think Voltaire is without Boris?" She sounded angry.

"Who do you think Boris is without Voltaire?" Bryan replied calmly. "All you want, Taylor, is getting your revenge on Kai Hiwatari and-"

"Don't dare saying his name," Taylor mumbled in a dangerous whipser.

Bryan wasn't impressed but went on: "You want revenge, and just because you think Boris will give you a chance, you can't risk the sake of people – or of an entire country."

"The two of you are really annoying," Tala interrupted. "Talking about things that didn't happen yet. Don't be too sure about what you think."

"Sibiria," Bryan told us – in Russian, of course.

Julie-Ann and the children I had trained with before were in my group again. After breakfast, we sat in the trainings room, and Bryan told us about new training programms.

"What do you mean?" someone asked.

Bryan grinned. "I mean the cold, northern ice desert, where a night lasts six months. That's where we're going to train for a few days. The cold is your enemy there – and you have to _ignore_ it to fight your real oppponent. Blading is more important than climatic conditions or anything. Do you understand? And if you don't do what I say, you will have problems in Sibiria."

I had heard stories about the ice desert. Mikael had been there, and even he had had problems with the conditions in Sibiria. This was either my chance to prove that I wasn't a sulking vult, or to stay a loser for the rest of my life.

"Riley," Bryan's voice brought me back to reality, "earth to Riley!"

Looking around, I noticed that the other had gone back to training while I had been daydreaming. "I'm sorry," I said and bit my bottom lip.

"You're a dreamer." Bryan shook his head. "Hurry up, or do you want to stay here all day?"


	6. Princess Anastasia

Days went by and Bryan trained me harder than the others; sometimes, during breakfast, he told me about the strategic and technical side of beyblading, and after every training session, I had to stay longer and blade against him in order to help him with his own training. We would usually have a single battle after every day. In the beginning, Bryan was able to beat me pretty quickly, but after a while, he would let me fight him a few times before he used to throw my blade out of the dish. It was barely a training for him, I realized when he gave me more and more chances to fight back, it was a trick to make me train. However, I liked the battles with Bryan; he didn't play tricks on me with his bit beast like Fritz had done, he didn't show off, or laughed when I lost. "Thank you," was all he said after every battle.

One day, Bryan sent the others to the dinning hall an hour earlier than usually, and he didn't ask me to blade against him when I stayed in the taining room and waited.

"Come on, help me collecting the weights," he said.

We had done weight-lifting today with tiny weights, and Bryan picked them up from the floor and put them into a box. Just as I walked over to him in order to help him, I heard an angry voice bellowing: "I will never do what you tell me, so leave me alone!"

"Taylor?" I looked at Bryan, but he didn't pay attention to me anymore. Instead, he seemed to look right through me and to have forgotten that I was there. Another girl screamed, too, in a fairly arrogant tone – she argued with Taylor. I had never heard the other female's voice before. In the large training hall next-door, Tala said something very loud and clear as the arguing girls joined him, Mikael and Spencer.

Still, I was nothing but thin air for Bryan, but I followed him to the large hall where the others were talking noisily now. As we entered, it seemed that they didn't argue; at least, not all of them. Taylor and a girl who I didn't know were arguing, and Tala and Mikael tried to calm down Taylor, but she told the boys to shut up and called them traitors.

"What's going on here?" Bryan interrupted their discussion. He gave each one a very stern look. Eventually, he looked at the sranger and asked: "Why didn't you wait for Boris' orders, Anastasia? I would have come and got you in a few minutes."

Anastasia was a bit taller than Taylor, and about 14 years old, just like her; however, she looked very different from every teenage girl I had ever seen (indeed, I hadn't seen very many). Her long hair was blonde, but more like very light brown, and it shone; it was wavy and nearly reached her waist. She looked as self-confident as her voice had sounded – nearly arrogant, knowing she was better than others – and her emerald eyes looked at the world as if she was one of the porcelain-skinned fairy-tale queens from the storys. (I read these storys a while after this took place).

"I don't want to wait for anyone," she replied confidently, but added in a very sweet tone: "Not even for you, Bryan."

Taylor laughed distainfully. "My Lady Princess is used to her own servants, I guess. However, you can't treat Bryan or anyone here like your personal slave. Anastasia dearest, I will do you a favour you will not often get as Queen of Russia: I will be honest to you. It is rare that a person is honest to you, I know, but you should know something: Your most royal blood sucks!" She spit at the floor.

"I don't care about what you think. Who are you?A foreign bastard who can't even speak our language. Yeah, once you've been so proud about your lively temper and your 'western manners', Taylor, but these times are history. _You_ are history, for you're no longer a member of this team, and you won't be a member of this abbey for much longer, I swear!" Anastasia's voice sounded calm.

Now, I realized how much these words must have hurt Taylor's pride. But still, she wouldn't give up. "In which world do you live, I would like to write a letter to you – maybe you will understand what really matters if you can read it, even though I don't have much hope. Things are bigger than you imagine. I don't believe in your fairy-world anymore; I don't believe in all the things Boris secretly told me as if it was a privileg to know about them. And I will love to see your downfall!"

"Taylor, hush you!" Tala grabbed Taaylor's arm and looked straight into her eyes and whispered. "It's only a child story she's telling you, so treat her as a child." Slowly, he let go of her again and turned towards Bryan who nodded slightly.

"You're no longer a member of this team, Taylor, so you should leave," she said proudly. "Tala, Bryan, you should stop treating her as a teammate and treat _her_ as the child she truly is."

Bryan sighed. "We treat Taylor as our friend, Anastasia; we only take orders from Boris, and even he can't do anything to prevend it. We – including Taylor - are accepting you as a member of the Demolition Boys, and this means that we are all equal; and Taylor will stay a Demolition Boy as well."

I had to grin when he said that Taylor was a Demolition _Boy_, but nobody else minded this strange title. Instead, they were all quiet for a few minutes.

Tala finally added: We respect you for _who _you are Anastasia, but not for _what_ your are, do you understand? I speak from the bottom of my heart when I tell you that I hold you dear when we parted as children."

Standing a few paces behind Bryan, I could look at everyone and saw that all but Anastasia looked rather worried. Spencer was the first one to really notice me. He looked at me and shook his head to show me that I shouldn't be there. When I gave him a look telling him 'I will stay', he rolled his eyes.

While I was still silently discussing with Spencer if I could stay, Anastasia said calmly: "Boris only named Tala, Bryan and me as members of the team. I would like everyone else to go now."

Taylor looked at her scornfully. "If you want to have me out of the team, you have to beat me first – and I doubt that you can even beat a little child." Much to my surprise, she turned around amd walked away. Looking back, she said: "Mikael, Spencer, come on, I'm sure this is a mistake."

The two boys she had called for followed her and they disappeared. Suddenly, I felt lost and knew that I shouldn't be there, too. Nobody seemed to notice me, so I was sure that I could go as well.

"And what are all these little children doing here? They're even in the team's training hall! That's terrible!" Anastasia sighed. "It was really time for Boris to take over the abbey. He will do things right."

Bryan grabbed me and pulled me in front of him. "You don't know what you're talking about, Anastasia. Boris has taken over _nothing_ yet as far as I know. And – for your own sake – I wish that he never does!"

"You don't know what _you're_ talking about, Bryan," she replied coldly.

"Hey," Tala suddenly said, "Taylor said that you couldn't even beat a little child; didn't she say so, Bryan?" The readhead smiled at me. "I really trust Taylor's judgement, you know, Anastasia."

"So do I," Bryan agreed. "However, I'm sure that you want to defend your royal honour, and of course, we will give you the chance to do so." He put his hands on my shouders and sounded amused when he added: "We will give her a chance, won't we, Riley?"

I looked confused at Tala and then I turned around and gave Bryan the same look of innocent confusion. "We will?"

"Of course we will – _you_ will!" Bryan dragged me forward. "We will do it with pleasure."

It was like a theatre performane, I understood. However, I didn't knew if blading against a whole strange new member of the Demolition Boys was a very good idea; I still remembered the battle against Fritz, the last real strong opponent I had had. (Bryan didn't really count, since he still treated me like someone he had to look after during a battle, and not like an equal blader).

Tala, too, put a hand on my shoulder, and with a big smile on his face he said: "Of course I will give you Wolborg, for I know how strong you always are when you two fight together; it's always amazing to see." He really gave me Wolborg! I felt Tala's beyblade in my hand, I hold it tightly – and I was frightened, but tried to hide it. His blade seemed to be very heavy… and I had seen Woldborg's power. However, I had never used a bit beast- yet a strong one like Wolborg - before!

'She can control Wolborg?' I could read Anastasia's thoughts on her face when she looked at me. "I'm sorry to tell you that I still don't feel recovered from my journey. Tala, Bryan, I'm sure you'll understand it. What's your names?" she asked me.

"Riley."

"She's Mikael's sister," Bryan told her. "And of course, we fully understand that you need to rest before you can battle anyone. It wouldn't be fair if your opponent was strong and you was still worn out."

(Strong? After eight hours of training, I really didn't feel very strong anymore; _I_ was worn out, but even if I wasn't, I could never control Wolborg! )

"Thank you, gentleman. See you later. Riley, we will have our battle another time."

After she was gone as well, Bryan and Tala started laughing hysterically. Bryan slung his arms around my shoulder and couldn't stop laughing, while Tala held his stomach. I stood there and didn't understand what had happened.

"W-what was that?" I asked when they had calmed down a bit.

It took Tala a while to be able to speak again, but he eventually explained happily: "Riley, you've just challenged the Princess of Russia."

"What are you talking about? _You_ challenged her in my name, I didn't do anything – I don't even know who she is and I always thought that Russia didn't have a royal family. Boys, this is too confusing." I gave Wolborg back to Tala.

"Riley, Anastasia is the great-granddaughter of Anastasia, the youngest daughter of csar Nicholas II."

"She's a Romanova? But they were all killed by Lenin's men during the First World War!"

"There have always been rumours that the youngest Romanova-girl survived. Boris' family were nobles. The man who drove the dead bodies to their graves was one of Boris' ancestors. He tried to save Anastasia and her brother when they lay on his wagon and the Bolsheviks thought they were dead. The driver escaped into the woods somehow when he realized they were still alive and tried to save the prince and the princess. However, the prince had haemophlia, so he died, but Anastasia survived."

"Yeah, and the rest is part of Boris personal family history. One of his ancestors married the Russian princess, now unofficial queen, and they got two sons. And one of this sons got another son who is the father of Anastasia." Tala rolled his eyes as if this story annoyed him. "So, Boris is a real Russian noble, though after General Kornilov's attack failed, most members of Boris' noble families became Bolsheviks and some of them later belonged to Stalin's closest circle. None of them fought for the Whites against Lenin and Trotzki, because the cowards knew who would win." Tala sighed. "Very noble indeed."

"Sounds… unbelieveable. Why does Boris need Anastasia now? Is she a good blader?"

"Pretty good," Bryan said. "And she's intelligent. She was taken by surprise when Tala gave you Wolborg – she knows its power well enough. That's why she refused your challenge."

"Some people think the rumours about Anastasia's survival are true, and with new genetic technology, they can proove that the Anastasia you're just seen is a Romanova. A Russian princess is always good to have – especially when she's a good blader. However, I don't know Boris' plans, Riley," Bryan told me.

"Maybe you will get the chance to fight with Woldborg against Anastasia very soon," Tala grinned. "I would love to see that."

"Tala, hush you!" Bryan suddenly got serious. "That's not funny and you won't let her do that! It might hurt her seriously. It was a trick and the both of us knew that Anastasia wouldn't want to fight against Wolborg now. And if she wants, you will fight with Wolborg against her."

Tala rolled his eyes. "Sir, yes, sir!

* * *

A/N: So far, the chapter has much to do with Russian history; I can assure you that Anastasia didn't survive, though there have really been rumours because they couldn't find Anastasia's dead body; and a woman appeared in the 1920's who claimed to be the last Romanov. The real Anastasia and her family died on the 16th of July in 1918. They were killed by Bolshewistic soldiers. After the Febuary Revolution in March 1917, the csar and his family had been arrested, and before their death they had been living in exile in Siberia. 

Until 1917, the orthodox Christians in Russia still used the calendar invented by Iulius Caesar, while the Roman Christians used the calendar established by Pope Gregor XIII. in 1852. In the 20th century, the difference between the two calendars had been 13 days; so, when it was the end of Febuary in Russia, it had been the beginning of March for the rest of the Christian world. After the revolution, however, the Roman Christian calendar was established in the Soviet Union by Lenin.

The revolution was spontaneous: in 1917, Russia had gone through three years of war against Germany (World War I) already; the people in Russia had always been oppressed and poor, and while the leading and rich industrial countries had human rights, Russia hadn't. The Russians had been discontended and many Russian soldiers had fled. In 1917, the workers refused to work, and when the csar was attacked, the military refused to fight against the common people as well.

Russia didn't become communistic immediately. There was the Duma – the parliament – and the head of the Duma was a noble named Kerenskij who tried to order things after the revolution. At that time, Lenin had been still in exile in Switzerland, but Germany brought him safely back to Russia because the Germans thought he would end the war quickly. (Germany was in an uncomfortable situation during the World War: they had a so-called two-frontier-war: on the western frontier, they fought against France, and in the east, they fought against Russian troups).

Back in his own country, things weren't very good for Lenin. The 'communistic' party had split up: there were Lenin's party, Bolschevics (which means 'majority'), and the less brutal party called Menschevics (which means 'minority). However, there were more Menschevics than Bolshevics and only a few Socialists who fought for the rights of the workers. The democrats and the social-revolutionaries ruled, they had more voices in parliament than the others. All together: Lenin had no chance against Kerenskij and had to flee again.

In August 1917, General Kornilov tried to fight against the Duma in Petrograd (he was on the side of the csar), but he failed because he and his army got 'the wrong train' – they never reached Petrograd. Instead, his train was lead to a siding by Bolshevics.

Secretly, Lenin came back and with the help of his friend Trotzki, he canceled the congress meeting in Petrograd on 25th of October. Now, his own parliament ruled, and he was the leader.

Later, Lenin and Trotzki, the Reds (communists), had to fight against Whites (people who suffered under their reign (millions of people died of hunger) fought with former generals of the csar and others (democrats etc.)). Trotzki formed the "Red Army" and was able to beat the Whites.

Still, Russia had no big industry (which was important), and the people had nothing to eat. Lenin began to change his political direction; he died in 1921.

Lionheart's comment: I hope that you could understand the text and my English wasn't too bad (it was kind of complicated to write the text in English). The Russian history inspired me a lot to write this story ;-). Still, the chapter was kind of short. Please, read and reply; that would be nice.


	7. Getting to the point

Every child knows about the dead Princess Anastasia and the tales about her life and death – but these stories had been rumours, or fairy-tales. Bryan made me swear not to tell anyone about what they had told me, and so I kept quiet.

While Anastasia appeared in the dinning hall for dinner that night and talked very lively to Mikael, Taylor was nowhere to be seen. However, I met Adrian after dinner and I forgot about the last events. We walked around and talked a lot about very innocent things. Eventually, we sat down at the stair that led up to the third floor.

"…and I don't hate her or anything, I just think she doesn't have the right attitude, do you understand?" Anastasia walked around the corner and appeared at the top of the stairs with Mikael.

Adrian and I looked up and stared at them. I had totally forgotten about Taylor's argument with the Russian princess, but secretly, I thought Taylor was right. Although Bryan had assured me that Anastasia had 'royal' talents, I knew that Taylor was good at blading, too, because she had trained hard to become who she was. Now, I felt that Mikael was a traitor by listening to the things Anastasia told him.

"What are you doing here?" My brother gave me a stern look. "Up to bed – now! Both of you!" We didn't get up. "Don't make me say it twice, and don't behave like brats." He meant he would give us a beating if we didn't go, so we did.

When the light in the corridors were switched off, I was still wide awake though the others in my room were already fast asleep. Again, I couldn't sleep; my mind was restless, although I couldn't really think about anything that had happened recently. So I climbed out of my bed again and left the room. Walking around in the darkness, I found my way down the stairs to the first floor.

Boris had the last Russian princess, he had Taylor, Tala, and Bryan, and he still had Voltaire's support. But for how long would he have the last thing? It was really worrying the older bladers. I had to realize that I was all alone – against Boris. Whatever he was doing, I suddenly felt that I wanted to prevend him from doing it, but I knew that I couldn't.

Eventually, I reached Boris' office; light was floading through under the door and I heard voices. Boris and Taylor. They were discussing something.

"Taylor, you know what you mean to me, and what you mean to Biovolt. The both of you – Anastasia and you – will be on the team. Please, think about what you're doing this for."

"You know what I want, Gaspadin," Taylor replied simply.

"I will give you what you want - your revenge on Tyson. I promise, you will have your battle against him."

Tyson? Why should Taylor want a revenge on Tyson from the Bladebreakers? For sure, she wanted it for Tala, she wanted to avenge Tala. I knew they were close friends…

"She has no rights to boss me around!"

"She's from the old blood, Taylor; it's good blood."

"Whatever," Taylor mumbled sadly. I felt pity for her; she didn't seem to belong into a Russian abbey, she was so different ftom all the others. There was something in her heart, something that kept her restless; I could see it in her eyes.

Someone walked through the corridors, too; I could hear footsteps. Thinking it was one of Boris' men, I hid in the darkness as the sound of the footsteps aaproached. When the person was close enough, I saw that it was Anastasia, and she seemed to be heading for Boris' office as well. I hid behind a dark corner, and she went into the room the moment Taylot walked out. The two girls didn't look at each other. The door was closed again, Taylor walked down the corridor to another part of the abbey and I could go back to where I could overhear Boris and his princess.

"A few more weeks – I need a few more weeks from Voltaire, then I will be able to candidate, Anastasia. And as soon as I am president, we will declare you Queen of Russia, and the royal family will resurect, I promise," Boris told her when she asked him something in a dangerous tone.

"Taylor won't like that."

"She will do everything as long as I give her the personal revenge on Tyson. That's all she's longing for since she's nine."

Since she's nine? Why did she know Tyson when she…? I didn't have much time to think about it. Boris changed the subject and the discussion got more and more interesting…

"I don't need Voltaire – I will drop him soon enough. The newest addition to the Russian royal family is here as well." The man laughed drily.

"My little cousin Lilly? May I see her?"

"No," Boris said sharply, and then he added in a softer tone: "She's still worn out and recovers in my private quarters."

"Her father gave her to you? He always refused to have anything to do with Russia and our buisness, Dad said."

"I have ways to persuade people, Anastasia."

I could tell from the sound of his voice what this "ways" would be like. Something strange was going on… something illegal, something dangerous… something very bad! And I didn't really understand how dangerous these things actually were.

Anastasia then told Boris about what had happened in the training hall that day, and she also mentioned me. "This little girl didn't look as if she could control Tala's bit beast. It took me off guard, and I didn't really believe it," Anastasia said.

"I fully understand you, my dear. How did you say was the kid's name? Realy?"

"I only remember it was an English name – a foreign name, but the kid was Russian. She had no accent."

"Shoulder long, dark-brown hair, dark eyes? About seven years old? Could her name have been Riley?"

"Yes; yes, that was the girl's name."

"I think the kid needs a lesson – Bryan kind of spoils the girl, and I really don't want to know why…"

Enough! I had heard enough! Before I could think about it twice, I ran away, back to my room and tried to hide under the bedcovers, wishing to disappear, wishing not to exist. An unknown fear made me shake.

In the next morning, I was even scared of getting up and walking down to the dinning hall all alone. The entire place seemed to be scary – and for the first time, I realized how dangerous it was here. Not only because I had overheard Boris, but just because I was there; because I had met Anastasia, because I knew who she was and I had been with Bryan the day before. Because I was born.

What could I do? Go on, I told myself. Don't hestitate, go on!

Trying to concentrate on beyblading, I didn't think about Boris' conversation with Anastasia, and I didn't tell Bryan or anyone. However, I wasn't that good at pretending everything was alright. I bladed worse than at the first day of training with Bryan.

"Hold your hand still when you launch the blade, kid", Bryan shouted. When I did it wrong again, my blade was too slow and I couldn't increase its speed anymore. Bryan sighed. "I've seen enoug. Jadden, Riley, you can go and have lunch."

I didn't even try to explain myself. Walking out of the training hall, my thoughts went back to the differences between Taylor and Anastasia. I didn't doubt that Boris was on Anastasia side – and I felt I had to warn Taylor. I had to tell her that Boris had lied to her.

On my way to the dinning hall, I chose to walk through the east wing, where I thought Taylor's room was. For sure, she was training somewhere else, but remembering she had avoided the others' company the day before, I still thought there was a chance that she was in her room.

Taylor was neither to be seen nor to be heard anywhere in the east wing. Just as I decided to go to the dinning hall and look for her there and in the training rooms, I heard a strange noise coming from one of the rooms at the far end of the corridor. It was as if someone was hitting his fists against the massive wooden door; as I walked nearer, I could also hear sobs and cries.

"Taylor?" I suddenly got the idea that Boris might have locked her up in her room. On the door, there was an old-fashioned lock. "Who's there?" My voice was shaking, and the fear came back. It made me shudder, and I wanted to run away again, as fast as I could. However, my feet wouldn't move, so I stood there and waited for an answer. But none came.

The sobs got louder, and the person in the room hit against the door more desperately. I recognized a child's voice – but it wasn't Taylor's. The child was younger, about my own age, and it was impossible to decide whether it was a boy's or a girl's voice.

"I can unlock the door", I said loud enough for the other person to hear – or so I hoped. I felt that I had to help whomever was locked up there; I knew what it felt like to be imprisoned, and it was terrible. With clumpsy fingers, I finally managed to unlock the door. I could hear a soft "click". Then, there was nothing. No sobs.

"Hello?" I asked carefully as I opened the door. And what I saw lay beyond all my expectations. I faced a girl – about four inches taller than me – who looked like a younger version of Anastasia. She had the same wavy hair, the same full lips, and the same small nose.

For eternity – or so it seemed – the both of us stood there and looked at each other. The other girl had cried, I could see it; her nose was red, and so were her eyes, and her face was still wet. She was shaking; she looked like a ghost. Staring at each other, none of us dared to say a word in a very long time.

"Who are you?" I finally managed to ask in my native tongue. My voice was shaking, too. However, I didn't get an answer. All she did was stepping back, looking afraid of _me_. Automatically (when someone didn't reply to my question in Russian), I asked again in English: "What's your name?"

Much to my surprise, she answered in English: "M-my name is L-Lilly Dupré." She had the same accent as Taylor. No, it wasn't an accent, her English was perfect.

I walked into the room and closed the door behind me. For sure, Boris had scared her and had locked her up, so it was safer to keep the door closed, in case someone walked by and saw me (I had done enough lately). Trying to comfort Lilly, I said: "My name is Riley, Riley Finn."

"Let me go! I want to go home." She nearly screamed.

"Calm down", I said. "I'm not the one who locked you up here. Well, tell me where you come from and what you are doing here."

She sat down on the armchair near the door and cried. "I come from London. I-I was in the park – my nanny was with me. Suddenly, these men appeared when I played with my friend Hannah on the playground. I screamed, but they grabbed me and dragged me towards their car. They pressed something against my face. I remember some strange noises; I think I was in a train. And then I woke up here and a man with a strange accent talked to me, telling me he saved me from bad people who wanted to hurt me because I was a princess."

I could hardly understand what she was saying for she sobbed all the time. However, I understood that someone – and I was sure it was Boris – had kidnapped her from England. Then, I remembered the conversation between Boris and Anastasia: Lilly was Anastasia's cousin, the second Russian princess whom he had "persuaded" to come.

"They- they won't hurt you", I tried to calm her down.

She looked up and pointed at my forehead. "And what's that?"

"Huh?" I touched my left eyebrow.

"They beat you – what are they doing to me?" She cried even harder.

"I walked against a door, okay?" I rolled my eyes. "No reason to cry, really. Nobody did hurt you so far, did they?"

"N-no." Whipping a few tears away, she asked: "And what are you doing here?"

"Beyblading. Do you beyblade?"

"Sometimes. But I don't feel like playing here."

"Playing? Beyblading isn't a game, stupid. It's an important sport and we don't do it for fun, okay? And don't worry, you're really a princess – a Russian princess, you're in Russia – and your cousin Anastasia is here as well, and the man who kidnapped you is Boris and he won't hurt you because there would be no use in it. He needs you."

"I don't know what you're talking about! I don't have a cousin called Anastasia – and I'm not Russian."

"Your dad was related to the lost Princess Anastasia Romanova", I told her. The more I talked to her, the more I felt that -I even though I was smaller -I was the thougher one and I had to protect her like I tried to protect Adrian sometimes.

"My dad is dead. And I don't know anyone called Anastasia Romanova either." Lilly seemed to be stubborn – she just wouldn't believe me! "Please, help me getting out of her – I want to go back to my mom."

"I can't", I replied; anyway, I felt sorry for her. I had no mother I wanted to go back to – or at least, I had no mother who wanted me back. During the first few nights in the abbey, I remembered crying and asking for my mother, but I soon had to learn that she was the one who gave me away and would never want me back.

"Help me, please!" Lilly begged.

There was no way I could help her. Why should I? She refused to believe me when I told her who she was. Boris needed her, he wouldn't hurt her; however, he would punish me if he ever found out that I had unloked the door…

Suddenly, I heard the door being opened behind me. Turning aroung quickly, I saw Anastasia and Mikael standing in the doorframe. Anastasia stared at me, and then at Lilly. Mikael, however, got angry by seeing me.

"What are _you_ doing here? Did you lose your last piece of mind?" He stepped forward a few paces and stood right in front of me. Grabbing me by my shoulder, he shook me brutally. "Here's nothing of your buisness. If I see you ever again, you will better say your prayers. And pray that I won't tell Boris you've been here." My brother slapped me on my ear once and pushed me out of the room.

The whole afternoon, I thought about Lilly and if I should tell anyone or not. On the one hand, I was sure not even Bryan could do anything to help, so it would be senseless, but on the other hand, I felt that I had to do _anything_, even if it was senseless.

Before training was even finished, Taylor came into the training hall smiling strangely. "Hey Bry," she greeted her friend cheerfully.

"What do you want?"

I was standing nearby and tried to lift a weight as the two teenagers talked.

"Why do you think I want _anything_? Can't I pay my very best friend a visit without him being suspicious about it? That's sad Bryan – really sad." She pretended to be disappointed in him and sighed.

I slung my fingers around the bar of one of the weights and hold it tight. 100 pounds – not very easy to lift.

"Taylor, would you please get straight to the point?" Bryan rolled his eyes. "And by the way: I know you better than you may even know yourself; you can't play a single trick on me."

Taking a deep breath, I relaxed my muscles before I prepared them for lifting the weight.

"Well, let's see. First of all, I can play _any_ trick on you I can think of – I'm sure of that, Bry. Second, and I promise I'll get straight to the point, I have to ask you a favour."

The weight was heavier than I was, but I couldn't wait to see the surprised look on Bryan's face if I could do that…

"Name it." Bryan sight. "And please, don't make me dance again, or play a prank on Anastasia – you could do that and got away with it when you were eight, but not now anymore."

At first, only my feet moved as I tried to pull it up – but not the iron weight itself. I took a short breath and tried it again immediately.

"I promise it had nothing to do with Miss I'm-so-very-royal in person." Taylor gave him an innocent smile. "I just need one of your rookies."

Now, I could feel it moving; I had to pull it up above my ellbows, the rest would be easier…

"Taylor, what are we just talking about?"

Slowly, I pulled the weight with all my strength, and slowly, slowly it was lifted up one, two… more than five inches about the ground… six…

"I need Mikael'sbaby sister – Riley."

By hearing that, I dropped the weight. Noisily, it hit the ground and Bryan and Taylor turned around to stare at me.


	8. Between the lines

A/N: Celtic Kitty Cuini – this chapter is especially for you. Thank you for your kind review, you really encouraged me to continue with this story. Thanks again. Hope you like this one as much as the other – or even more?

_Love, Lionheart_

* * *

"I want to talk to you, short stuff," Taylor announced after she had dragged me into an empty training hall where we were now sitting on the floor all alone.

First of all, I didn't like being dragged around like a doll_. I may be small, but I'm still my own person and not a puppet or anything like that!_ Second, I didn't like being called things like "short stuff" – it led again to point one: no "thing" or "toy" but "own person"! And last but not least, I didn't like the strange sound in Taylor's voice. She sounded friendly – but usually, Taylor wasn't friendly, and she had no reason to be friendly now.

"It's been the perfect weather for spying on people last night, huh?" She grinned as she saw how the expression on my face changed. I bit my bottom lip and siltently cursed that she had seen me sneaking around in the halls after light-out. Although I didn't know much about Taylor back then, I already knew one thing: she would do _everything_ to get what she wanted, and now she could blackmail me into nearly _anything_ she wanted me to do. "Ow, come one, Riley, her royal highness may be too blind to see you, and Boris looks up too high into the air to see what's happening right underneath his nose, but you need some practice if you want to trick _me_. Anyway, I'm proud of you for at least trying. Did you hear anything interesting, by the way?" Giving me an innocent smile, she added: "For example, something Boris told Anastasia."

I sat corss-legged across from her and looked down at my hands in my lap. "Who says I stayed to overhear their conversation?" I replied carefully. Even though it seemed to be a harmless coversation, it was somehow scaring me. And now, Taylor was giving me even more reason to be scared...

"Listen kid," she grew impatient, "I know that you heard at least half the things Boris told _me_, and I'm sure you heard as much from the conversation Boris had with Anastacia. So if you know what's good for you, you'd better tell me, or I'll tell your brother. As far as I'm concerned, he's quite close to the soon-to-be queen of the land of the damned, so he won't like you spying on her, will he?"

Bitting my bottom lip, again, I answered: "Boris wants to become president, and he'll make her queen." It sounded the hell stupid, I thought, like a good-night story for a toddler. However, it was true, and it was dangerous... and I didn't even yet realize that one false word, and I might have been dead. Boris was plotting against the government! Against the world!

"Tell me something I don't know." Taylor rolled her dark green eyes. "Did they talk about Voltaire?"

"Nothing in particular about him, no. But they talked about Lilly."

"You mean the girl they kidnapped; Boris still tries to tell Anastacia that her cousin _wants_ to be here... Stupid girl. Well, you already found her, didn't you? Oh please, don't look at me as if a third arm is growing out of my forehead, kid, I just like being informed, that's all. Knowledge is power, you'll learn soon enough; by the way; that bloody brother of yours still hasn't learned yet." Sighing, she stroke through her long black hair. "You're a regular chatterbox, aren't you? Seems to be in the family… However, I decided to help you learning certain things – would be a pity if all members of your family ended up like your brothers. Anyway, I aways thought that females had more potential... You have to get me some informations out of Boris' office, do you think you can do that?"

"You mean, _steal_?" I gave her a shocked look.

"Do you really want to tell me you've never done it before?"

"Well, no. I mean, I did it before. But I'm sure what you want me to do is dangerous – extraordinary dangerous, otherwise you would do it yourself."

"Clever kid," she smiled. "Well, I take care you can go into his office and get out unnoticed, I promise. I just need two people for my plan, and I thought you would be all right for the job."

"I'm honored," I replied, trying to sound really annoyed. "And why don't you ask Tala or Bryan?"

"Because Boris would suspect them to help me - it's obvious! He would find out and the two of them would be in trouble for my idea. Never will anyone know it has been you, and you can proof that you're no coward."

I thought about it for a moment. A seven-year-old is much too young to know what getting herself in grave danger means, so I answered: "I'll do it if it's really, really safe."

"Coward," Taylor laughed, but said: "I swear it is if you follow my orders correctly."

"And you have to answer me some questions. Where do you come from?"

The older girl gave me a funny look. "Honolulu, Hawaii," she finally answered. "You know where that is?" I nodded. "Why do you ask?"

"You're not Russian, but you're still staying. Why?"

"Because I have nowhere else to go, stupid." She sounded annoyed. "And it's not that I have much of a choice. Why aren't you going somewhere else?" As I didn't answer, she added: "See, you don't want to talk about it, and neither do I."

"Yeah, but I don't want _you_ to do something for _me_," I explained smartly.

Rolling her eyes, took something out of the pocket of her blue jeans. "You're a smart-ass, you know that? Here, take a look at that." It was tiny silver mirror.

Havig taken the mirror, I looked at my own reflection. The glass was small, but large enough to show my entire face if I hold it in front of me. A pair of dark brown eyes – my own eyes – looked back at me; my face was cascaded by thin, greasy strains of dark brown hair that reached my shoulder. The corners of my mouth were sore, my lips blistered, and there were dark rings under my eyes.

"You look like a sorry little creature, kid," Taylor said.

"Why do you care? What is it that makes you care?"

"Well, nothing at all, really _– I just like your brother_. But let me give you a piece of advise: if you want to survive, looking like a beaten vult doesn't help you the least bit. You're small, yeah, but nobody cares about your age. So, I make you an offer: you help me getting things done, I help you when things are through."

"What do you mean with "when things are through"?"

"You seemed to be much smarter in the beginning." Stroking through her hair again, she explained: "When there is no abbey anymore, where will you go? I can't imagine your brother to look after you, so you need someone else."

"You wouldn't do that." It was a statement. It was the truth.

"Who do you think I am? Your damn nanny or what? No, I'll just make sure you have a choice – something else than the orphanage… Stealing the things from Boris' office isn't one of that do-it-and-I'll-owe-you-something-for-the-rest-of-my-life kind of things. I'll just make sure your sorry little butt doesn't hit the ground too hard." She got up. "And there's something else: Stop asking me stupid questions – there's nothing about me _you_ need to know!" Leaving me sitting in the large training hall all alone, she walked out.

_I just like your brother… that bloody brother of yours…_ It made me confused. Why should Taylor say she liked Mikael – it only could be Mikael, for he was in her team and was as old as her – and call him names at the same time? It wasn't the least bit logical – but Taylor wasn't logical in the first place. Something about her made me curious, but I couldn't tell why… Did I have any reason to trust, yet understand Taylor? No, not at all. Okay, I guess no one really understood her back then. Later, someone told me that Mikael once said to Taylor the only person who really understands her was herself. So, what did they expect from me? I didn't even know what all that buisness of Boris' was about...

"You shouldn't do it," Adrian said when I told him that night at dinner. We were whispering to each other, carefully avoiding Taylor's attention who was sitting at the other end of the long table. I knew that this was exactly what Adrian would have said – I knew it before I had even asked him. Adrian was easy to understand: he was a caring and careful kind of kid.

"Yeah, but what she said... about the end of the abbey... You said you didn't want to go back to the orphanage – so, if she helps me, I'll also make her help you, then we can go somewhere else."

"Riley, do you know what you're just talking about? You can't just go _somewhere else_ – we're children! And neither can Taylor, for she's just fourteen!" His voice got a little louder and angrier. "You risk your head for nothing!"

"It might stop Boris," I replied. "It might stop him from hurting children all over the world the way he hurts them here." I didn't really know if it was true, but I knew I could stop Boris from doing something bad – something bad like he had done to Lilly when he had kidnapped her.

Bryan, who was sitting next to Taylor, shot us a confused glance, so we looked down at our nearly empty plates again.

"I'll show you something," I finally decided. Taking Adrian's hand, I got up and dragged him onto his feet as well. Before anyone could notice it, we were gone. I led the way and Adrian followed without compaining. He trusted me, although he thought that I was doing dangerous things from time to time and got myself into trouble way too often. However, we were friends, and that meant a lot to me. I wanted him to trust me as much as I trusted him – and I trusted him with my life. Knowing that there was someone who relied on me the way Adrian did was a strange feeling, and it scared me a bit.

Didn't my brothers sometimes feel that I wanted to rely on them – that I needed them? For sure, Fritz didn't care, he was too selfish, and Ethiopis was too stupid anyway. And Mikael? Well, maybe he knew – yeah, I could imagine that he knew it. He _saw_ that I need him. What if it scared him, too? Maybe it was just the responsibility he was afraid of, and that was why he was so hard on me and stayed so cold. Thinking that it wasn't my fault he treated me the way he did, but his own fear, comforted me a bit... He wasn't all that bad... I thought about that while I led Adrian to Lilly's room.

"Riley, where are we?" Adrian's voice was but a whisper as I opened the door. He had no clue what was waiting for him inside this room, but he could feel that this was something important – and something we would be punished for if Boris found out. I didn't need to tell him the deatils, he just knew what kind of thing I was doing – he knew me too well...

"Calm down, Ade," I said, trying to sound extra calm in order to ignore my own fast heartbeat. Glancing into the room, I whispered: "Lilly? Lilly, you're here?"

"Yeah?" She had been lieing on the sofa in the left corner of the room. Now, she got up and rubbed her sleepy eyes. Her light blond curls were bouncing as she yawned softly and pulled herself up in a sitting position.

Walking inside quickly, I grabbed Adrian by his hand and dragged him in, too. I closed the door behind us – the last time Mikael had found me there wasn't one of my most pleasant memories to say the least, and I didn't want to find out what he might do if he found me breaking the same rule twice within the same day... The room was nice, I noticed. It was warm and smelled fresh. There was an old dark blue sofa – the one Lilly used to sleep on as it seemed – an old, dark wooden table in the right corner and two chairs, soft blue and white carpets on the floor and curtains, and a bookshelf. Back then, I thought this room was okay for a princess, for I hadn't seem much else before. For me, it was the nicest place I had ever seen. To be honest, I couldn't understand why Lilly wanted to go _home _– to go back to her _mother_. I couldn't really remember my so-called home, and my mother wasn't a very nice memory either, but maybe not all homes were like mine, and not all mothers loved their kids as less as my mother loved me. Maybe, there were mother who were worth being loved, and who were worth going back to...

"Lilly, that's my friend Adrian; Adrian, that's Lilly, Anastasia's cousin," I introduced them to each other in Lilly's mothertongue. I had seen Mikael introducing Fritz and Taylor to each other once, and I was proud to repeat the procedure I had seen so correctly.

"Hi," Adrian said; he looked at Lilly for a second with his mouth white opened before his face went as red as a tomatoe and then he looked down at the floor.

Lilly smiled weakly. "Hello, nice to meet you," he said in English

"Yes, nice to meet you, too," she replied in the same language. "I'm glad to see you again, too, Riley." She looked lovely when she smiled – beautiful and angel-like. I had never seen an angel, but they must have the same nearly colourless curls, the same shining blue eyes, the same white teeth, the same heart-shaped mouth, and the same dimples as Lilly.

I nodded and smiled back, trying to look a little bit more lovely – like she did – and not like that "sorry little creature", but I guess my smile looked like a cheekish grimace and not the least bit adorable.

However, Lilly seemed to be a little bit comforted. "I didn't know if you wouldcome back again – and I didn't expect you to come again that quickly. Did they allow you to come and visit me?" Her voice sounded hopefully.

Adrian laughed quietly, and I shot him an angry look. "No," I admitted, "they will skin me alive if they find out that I came back today or in a hundred year. So please, don't tell them, okay?"

Lilly nodded. "Of course I won't. I'm honored you came though you might get into trouble – but I don't want you to be punished like- well, like this aftrenoon."

"No problem," I replied casually, "that was just my brother; he's harmless." With every inch of my brain I knew this was a lie, but I didn't want to scare Lilly, and I wanted to sound tough and brave – Lilly was the cute kind of girl, the kind of girl I would never be; my only chance was being tough to get through life. "Just don't mind him, he's stupid. Are you feeling better now?"

She nodded but her smile faded. "My- my cousin Anastasia came to talk to me. Come, sit down!" She offered us a seat next to her on the sofa.

I followed her invitation, but Adrian stood there and stared at his feet. Eventually, when I asked him if he wanted to stand there forever, he moved over to us and sat down next to me. Now, I was sitting in the middle between them – Adrian at my left handside, and Lilly at my right handside.

"I still want to go back home," Lilly finally admitted quietly.

I bit my bottom lip. "Why?"

"I miss my mom." She sighed. "Are your mothers here?" As Adrian and I shook our heads in unision, she asked: "Don't you miss them?"

"No," I answered honestly, and Adrian said: "Don't have one at all."

"Oh." Lilly looked down with a sad expression on her face. "I'm sorry."

"No need to be sorry." I swallowed and suddenly remembered the meal I had just skipped. My stomach wasn't pleased about it. "What- what's your mother like? I mean, why do you want to go back to her?"

"She's the kindest woman in the whole world," Lilly whispered hoarsely. "She's always nice and when I'm lonely, she plays with me. She- she kisses me and hugs me, and tucks me in at night. And- and when I need her, she's always there and listens to me and she never gets mad. She always understands me." She added a few more things – a few many things – about her mother. I felt slightly jealous, but what was more important: I learned that there was this other kind of mother, that there was this caring kind of adult. It must have been very cruel to be ripped away from such a loving mother. If I had ever had someone who loved me that much, it would have been unbearable to have to go away from that person. Lilly's mother was a bit like Bryan, and I could hardly imagine my life without having Bryan aound me from time to time.

"Boris is insane," I stated as Lilly told us what he had said to Lilly about being princess (exactly the same thing he had told Anastasia). "Lilly? I promise you that you'll see you mom again. We'll think something up, and Boris will be gone soon." I didn't know why I said that, or where I knew it from, but I wanted to believe it. I wanted to believe in what Taylor had said.

"Riley, do you even know what you're talking about?" Adrian asked.

"Of course I do! Who do you think I am? Fritz? I know exactly what I'm doing, Ade." I looked at Lilly. "We have to go now, but we'll come back as soon as we can, okay?" Dragging Adrian _out_ of the room this time, we left Lilly alone again.

I looked up and down the corridor to make sure nobody would see us – not even Taylor this time – and then we went back down. Suddenly, I felt very grown up.

"Riley, I don't like that look of yours," Adrian said as we went down the stairs.

"Which look of mine?" I asked innocently.

"That look of yours that tells me that you think you know what you're doing though you don't. You're seven years old, to heaven's sake! I know you, Riley, and I know that you think you have to protect me, and that you have to protect Lilly, but you're even younger than us. Do you never think about that?"

"No, I never think about that," I said without looking at him, walking faster.

"Do you want to know what I think? I think Taylor is as insane as Boris, and I don't know what she's exactly up to, but I know she hides something from everyone. Riley, whatever you do, please, don't do what she asked you to do. You'll suffer in the end, I know it, and nobody will be able to help you."

"Adrian, there is nobody who would _want _to help me. Not even Bryan did when Boris locked me up last time. But I don't want Boris to hurt anyone ever again!"

"Why?" Adrian tried to catch up with me for I was walking in front of him.

I stopped and he nearly bumped into me. Turning around, I looked into his eyes: "Because he hurt me way too often, and he hurt you way too often; the bastard..." I bit my bottom lip; I didn't want to talk about it – with no one, not even with Adrian.

"He did what? Riley, what-"

"Nothing!" Pushing Adrian aside, I ran up the stairs again, leaving my confused friend behind.


	9. Reseraching the truth

"And remember: Do what I said – nothing more, nothing less!" Taylor warned me one last time. The next day, I had gone to her room straight after breakfast (I had followed her to her room the night before and she hadn't noticed me – I was proud of me!) to tell her I would help her. She seemed to have expected that and explained to me exactly what I had to do. By the way, her room was nice; a lot of papers and pencils, oil pastels and other painting equipments were lieing on her desk that stoodnext to awindow; there were two shelves full of books, and parts of beyblades spread all over the floor.

"What if I get caught?" I asked eventually.

"That's your problem," she asked honestly. "I can't help you then – hard but true. You still want to do it?"

"Yes." My voice was shaking, and suddenly, I felt scared. My stomach dropped, turned upside down and I felt that I had to vomit. _Just go through it_, I told myself. I tried to think of someone who was never afraid. Bryan? – Maybe. Taylor? – Who knew what she felt! Tala? – He had been scared after his battle with Tyson. Mikael? – I had seen him scared when I had been younger. Fritz? – Bad example. Boris? – Worse example.

"Come on then, Boris will inspect the teams in the basement this morning and I'm supposed to join him at ten. So I can keep him occupied for long enough. Nothing can go wrong – or nearly nothing." Taylor put her hand between my shoulder blades and dragged me out of her room with her. She was determined to go through that.

We walked down the stairs, and I tried not to think about all the things that might go wrong. Taylor didn't appear to be the least bit nervous. She walked down to the basement, and I went down the corridor to Boris' offce.

The door to his office was open at that time of the day, and no one seemed to be near. Opening the wooden door with shaking hands, I looked up and down the corridor one last time before entering. Taylor had desribed where the files she needed would be. Without Boris, the room seemed less dangerous and less scaring, but the dusty air, the dark wooden furniture and the cold atmosphere still gave me an eerie feeling. I hurried to walk over to the desk at the far end of the room; it was scary to get so near to this place of pure horror. My hands were shaking worse as I tried to open the drawer of the desk. According to Taylor, I could find everything that was important in the drawer. And really, as I had managed to open it, I found several brown files with long numbers on it. However, I had no time to go through each file but just grabbed all of them and hid them unter my dark blue sweater (the sweater was too large anyway, so nobody would notice).

This had been too easy – much too easy. I had been lucky. But I was never lucky – not even once. Things never went that easy for me, it always ended up in a disaster in one or another way. And this time was not any different. Just as I sneaked out of Boris office again, I turned around, already relieved, and turning around my head, I faced Fritz.

My heart skipped several beatings as I looked into his face, my mouth opened. Shocked, I felt my stomach drop and thought I would scream loud enough to alarm the entire abbey. It was just a second, but seemed like an eternity to me. I stayed quiet and didn't scream, even though I really did feel like it. The thoughts of what might happen now, what might be the punishment – they vanished. My head was empty. Just the feeling of horror was worse than anything I had experienced before. Panic.

"What have-," Fritz started to ask, but I turned around and ran past him to get away. He was too slow to catch me as I was running past him; he was surprised, too. _Can't be true! That just can't be true_, I thought.

This was bizare. It was surreal. It was like a nightmare – but I couldn't wake up! My whole body was shaking. I was too scared of what might happen now. Adrian had been right, I had got caught, I was in so much trouble – I was dead. I was just seven and had got myself practically killed already! I was sitting on Adrian's bed, waiting for my friend to return. It was the only place I had been able to think of as a hide-out, even though it was not really safe, of course. I just felt better – a little bit better. I had not been able to sleep because of the plan last night, and now it was all over. My life was over!

Dead, dead, _dead! _DEAD!

Stop that, I told myself as I fell down on Ade's bed. I had to calm down, I had to wait, and I had to find Taylor. Maybe she could help me, maybe... maybe it was all a nightmare, maybe I would wake up, realizing I hadn't stolen from Boris, I hadn't been seperated from Adrian, maybe I had never been in Balkove Abbey... _Stop it right now_, I repeated. It wouldn't do me any good. It was reality, I had to face and accept it and I had to survive – somehow, anyhow. What was so damn important to Taylor to bring me in grave danger anyway?

I was all alone in the room. There were six empty beds, and I put all the files carefully on Adrian's to take a closer look at each of them. If I was going to die because of this stupid files, I wanted to know what they were about at least. As I opened the first one, I found the picture of a little boy – about six or seven years old. He had midnight-blue hair, nearly black, and was smiling cheeckishly. On the back of the picture, there was his name, written in bold letters: TYSON GRANGER. I frowned. That was years before Tyson had started beyblading on a professionel level. Why should Boris keep a childhood photo of him? There were more papers about Tyson in the folder; dates and reports about his beyblading training. A few more pictures. The information were ranging from the age of seven to the age of nine. I was just about to discover one of the many mysteries...

Half an hour later, I had learned that Tyson had been in Balkove Abbey for a little less than three years when he had been a child. However, he had been an average blader. According to his files, Boris had never expected the boy to become world champion. Now I was asking myself why Tyson's training years in the abbey had never been mentioned. Boirs would have been able to use that fact to his opportunity. "World champion began his career in Russian abbey" – in _Biovolt's_ abbey. Why was it kept a secret? Did Taylor know? A look into another one of the files answered my last question: I found many photos of Taylor when she had been a child; on some, she was with Tyson, and there were a few of her and Voltaire's grandson Kai, and of Tala. I looked at a picture of Taylor and Tyson on the abbey yard. The two of them were sitting cross-legged on the gound, each of them holding a beyblade.

"They looked so much alike...," I whispered to myself.

"That's because they're first grade cousins," a familiar voice behind me answered.

I had been kneeling on the bed, bent over the papers to read them. Now, I got up and turned around just to see the owner of the voice standing behind me with a slight grin on his face. He went on: "By the way, she's angry because you didn't bring her the files immediately. And I'm sure she'll skin you alive for reading it, yet she'll have your head off because your brother saw you sneaking out of Boris' office." As he saw the upset expression my face, he said: "Don't worry, Taylor and Mikael take care that Fritz won't say a single tone to Boris about it. But next time you want to help revealing the mystery of Balkove Abbey, please ask me first, kay? And never ever again let Taylor talk you into somethig like that. Got me?"

I nodded slightly. "What- what are you doing here?"

"Well, that's my room, too. The rookies can get kind of out of control if there's no one to watch them. The others are already searching for you, and your little friend has worried himself to death by now, I guess. Come on, we'll give Taylor what she longs for so desperately. And if you want to keep your skin, you'd better don't tell her that you read it."

I didn't move. "Bryan, what do you mean with Taylor and Tyson being cousins? Why did nobody ever tell that Tyson has been raised here, and why isn't he here anymore, but Taylor is?"

"If I tell you, you'll promise to keep quiet about it? You won't tell Taylor that you know it?"

"Promise." I sat back and Bryan sat down next to me on the bedcover.

He sighed again. "Okay, look: Taylor and Tyson grew up together since the age of four. Tyson's mother lived with her sister-in-law, who was Taylor's mother. And when Tyson's mom died, he stayed with his aunt and cousin. Taylor's mom was a close friend of Boris', and rumours even say he might be Taylor's biological father." He laughed as he saw the shocked expression on my face. "It's just rumours, squirt. Taylor has inherited her semi-dark skin from her real dad, for example – there's no chance she's Boris' daughter, even though he would like it if she was, and there were and are times when he treated her like his own flesh and blood. Well, he took the both of them in: Taylor _and_ Tyson, even though Taylor was the more talented blader and had much more potential – much more potential than everyone else maybe. When they were nine, Tyson got ill – he nearly died. His grandfather came to take him home, but they left Taylor. That's why she's angry at her cousin, because he left her alone, or so she thinks. And she thinks that her grandfather didn't want to take her with him. I don't know much about that, she never talks about it. Tala once tried to force her, but it ended up in a six-week-argument between Taylor and the rest of us." I wanted to say something, but he interrupted me just as I had opened my mouth: "No word about it. Never. Neither to Taylor, nor to anyone else!"

"Yes."

"Come on, now. Let's find out what the others are doing."

I expected Taylor to be angry, but I hadn't thought about Mikael's reaction to what I had done. Taylor was sitting on her bed, and my brother was standing next to the desk when I came into her room with Bryan. Neither Adrian, nor Fritz were there, it was just the two of them. I felt nervous, and still panicked deep inside though I tried not to show really hard. Now, Taylor looked kind of calmed down when I gave her the files.

"I found her in her friend's room, scared like the little mouse she is," Bryan told her.

Taylor, however, just cared for the files. She mumbled something under her breath as she took them and walked over to her desk with Bryan.

I felt a little bit better, until Mikael said: "You and I talk – now!" He sounded angry – _really_ angry indeed. I had no choice but to obey. He grabbed me by my upper arm and dragged me out of the room. Bryan and Taylor had turned their backs towards us and were busy looking through the files. Mikael's grib was so strong that it was going to leave a bad bruise behind that would look like a band all around my left upper arm.

"What did you think you were doing? Well, I guess you didn't think at all, did you? Of course not! How could I be so stupid? Nobody wants you, so why didn't I knew better and kept you here, though you cause nothing but trouble for anyone!" He mumbled a few more swearings under his breath – some more to himself than to me. I tried not to feel too offended by what he said, even though it did hurt.

Why couldn't he be my brother and be nice to me, and proud of his little sister? I would often try to understand him – why he used to beat me, say harsh words to me, tell me off – and I tried to be better, I tried to be good, I wanted to please him, get his affection, make him proud and fond of me! He was my bother after all! Truth was, I wanted to become a blader for him. I wanted to be like him. Even though it was Bryan who was nice to me, tried to help me, and even though it was Adrian who was my best friend with whom I could share every secret, it had always been about Mikael, I adored him more than anyone. And now, as he said he wished I wasn't there, I felt deeply hurt. He had said it before, of course, many times, but this time I felt that I hadn't given him a reason to make him angry at me. This time, I felt that there was nothing I had done wrong, so I couldn't do anything to do better, to make Mikael happier with me – he was angry at _me,_ not at anything I had done. This time, he said it because he meant it.

He pulled me to his own room a few corridors away. There was just a bed, a dresser, a nearly empty bookshelf and a desk. Everything was cold. Fritz was already sitting on Mikael's bed with Ethiopis.

"Here she is", Mikael said motionless to out brothers. I looked up at him as I stood by his side, and I didn't like the serious expression on his face. He led me by my shoulder and made me stand in front of the bare wall opposite his bed. Then, he and the others could straightly look at me. I felt queer, but didn't want to show it. There seemed to be some declaration Mikael wanted to make, and Fritz was already looking forward to it with joy and glee in his eyes and his slimy grin. Why didn't they just "beat the shit out of me" as they always did?

"What the hell did you think you were doing?" Mikael asked calmly.

It scared me even more than his anger. "I- I tried to help."

"Do you think betraying someone who helped you will help anyone?" he inquired further.

My hands touched the concrete wall behind my back. My palms were sweaty already. "Yes, the people whom he hurts."

"Stop that nonsense, Mikael!" Fritz screamed and jumped onto his feet. Walking towards me with, I could see that he had he only had the pervert desire to hurt me – again. Before I could react, he grabbed me by my upper arms and shook me so hard that my head hit the concrete wall behind me.

"No!" Mikael was by his side and stopped him quickly. The grib aroung my arms eased, but my head was aching, I was scared as the sharp pain rushed through my entire brain. I sniffled and felt the first hot tears in my eyes.

"You're already crying? I didn't even start with you, rat" he threatened, but Mikael prevented him from doing even more harm to me. All the while, Ethiopis did neither do nor say a thing.

"Not that way, Fritz," Mikael said and sighed as he hold his brother's arms. "We made up our minds about this, and we decided not to do it that way."

"YOU decided not to do it that way," Fritz mumbled under his breath but let go of me. Then, there was a strange sparkle in his eyes. "Why do you think we shouldn't go to Boris right away and tell him what you've done? Huh?"

I swallowed. There were still tears on my cheek and I was lightly shaking. "Be- because you're my brothers," I stumbled.

That was what Fritz had expected me to answer – that was what he laughed about like a madman now. That was the point! "We are NOT your brothers!" he screamed and burst out into laughers even harder.

I felt as if he had slapped me. All I could do was looking straight at Mikael, begging him with my eyes to say that this was not true. _How... Why..._ There were no tears anymore, no sobs, just this feeling of chill... Why didn't Mikael say it wasn't true? Why didn't he say that Fritz was saying a lot of garbage and that he should stop that?

"I'm sorry," he said slowly and sounded like he really meant it – a little bit. However, I knew better than that: I knew he wasn't sorry about the fact that I wasn't his sister. And after stopping to believe that he was my brother, he had less responsibility and was happy for it. Very happy indeed. No need to pretend anymore.

Well, I would be happy about it, too, I decided. As I turned around, however, he grabbed me by arm. "Wait!" His voice sounded nearly nice. "Out," he told Fritz and Ethiopis sternly.

"Please, spare us," Fritz said. "What's the big deal about the little brat?" But he obeyed and left the room with Ethiopis.

I looked down at the floor and Mikael let go off my arm again. "Stay," he repeated in a strict tone. I didn't want to hear anything he would say to me. There was no difference for him, he could continue to ignore me. So what did he care? And I? I just had to stop wanting to be like him, wanting to please him. "I didn't want you to learn it that way." At least, he didn't expect me to believe him. Kneeling down in front of me, he placed his fingers under my chin to hold my head up and meet my eyes on an equal level. "Your mother – Claire – she... She was barely old enough to be your mother, Riley, yet mine."

"So, who's my father then?" I asked, not really expecting an answer. Mikael's father had cared as less about me as he had cared about his own daughter, or sons – except for Mikael, his first-born.

"I don't know, and I'm sure she doesn't even know it herself." He sighed. "We're not your siblings."

"Now I know it and I can be glad that I haven't got a brother who loves it to beat the shit out of me," I replied, "and you can be glad that I'm not your sister and that you don't have to play pretend anymore!"

"Riley, don't you understand..."

"I don't," I interrupted him and gave him an angry glare before I turned around and ran our of his room.

I had kind of found Taylor's family, but I had also lost my own – or at least the thing that was closest to a family for me. It was naiiv to think that I could just ignore it. When I ran away from Mikael, it was nearly tea time, so nobody was in his room – Adrian wasn't in his room.

* * *

_Flashback_

_I remember going to "Aunt" Abalonia once. It was winter, it was cold – much colder than usually – and I was five. It is one of the last memories I had of my mother._

_The streets were covered with snow, and my hands were red and stiff since I had been forming snowballs all along the way, and I had no mittens. My mother was wearing a dusty brown mantel that made her look much older than she really was; her hair was curly and lighter than the mantle. It was light blond, nearly colourless. My "sister" Katcha, who was six, was holding her hand during the walk, and eight-year-old Grizelda walked a few steps ahead of us. She wore her best skirt; it was blue and reached her knees. Katcha, too, wore her best clothes (a black blouse and a short white skirt) and their leather jackets had been washed the night before._

_I could tell that my mother was angry at me; I had been fighting with Fritz earlier in the morning and had ripped my jeans in the progress. It had not been my fault, Fritz had pulled me up the stairs, my head trapped under his shoulder. Mom had been nervous because of the meeting with with this mysterious aunt (you didn't "visit" her, you could only have formal meeting with Abalonia). Trying to make me look as nice as my "sisters", she had spend half an hour dressing me up, but she had given up because she had not been satisfied with anything. She had tried Katcha's old skirts, but they had been too large or had looked "ridiculous" like the blouses, according to my mom and Grizelda. So she had had no other choice than letting me wear my ripped jeans and one of Mikael's old white softball shirts with khaki coloured sleeves. And my hair had made Mommy angry, too: I had no bouncing red curls like Katcha, no long, healthy brown hair like Grizelda and Vaida, but only these thin, greasy dark brown hair strains that reached the middle of my neck – slightly curly and very messy. That wasn't my fault either; but I think she hated me because I didn't look pretty like she did. Well, I hadn't wanted to go with her, and she hadn't wanted to take me with her. I didn't understand what the fuss was all about, but later Mikael told me that this aunt was rich. She was widowed, her husbad had been the owner of a successful company, and she had no children. So, she took her many nieces and nephews in, trying to make them "precious, decent, and hard-working members of the new Russian society". According to her, everyone in the family was a fool, a loser, or worse – everyone but her, of course. And she thought that a strict education and discipline were best for children (maybe there was a reason because she didn't have children on her own...). I guess she thought of herself as kind of a messias for the family. So, the other members of the family gave her their children willingly – not only because of the education, but but also because they hoped to inherit some of the wealth and money. Grizelda had learned a lot from her when she had been my age, things like knitting and religion, as she had told me._

_Her house was an old Moskow town house. I guess it had once been splendid, but under Abalonia's care, it was rather run down and looked neglected. She didn't seem to be interested in looks and style. The white colour of the house was greasy, there were black streams from plants and such all over the massiv walls, and even the colour of the wooden windows frames was old. However, the house was huge and appeared to be scary. Its size made me shiver, but I didn't know why. My mom seemed to be scared, too. She knocked on the heavy twin door and her hand was shaking. She looked extraordniary pale. The door was opened by a maidservant – a freckled young girl in a black dress._

_"You wish?" she asked stiffly. Her voice sounded too old for her young age. And so was her attitude. "Madame is already waiting for you in her drawing room," she went on without waiting for an answer._

_Grizelda smiled proudly, and Katcha still held Morme's hand, but as I wanted to grab for my mom's other hand, she shook me off again and walked into the house._

_The rooms on the house were small, but there were many. They seemed to be even smaller because of the thick carpets, the colourful taperstries on the wall, and the dark furniture. There were little tables with bouquets on them, large paintings in golden frames, and other signs of overloaded wealth. Even the splendid pictures were dusty, the carpets were shabby, and the entire house looked neglected. I remember thinking that nothing seemed to suit, nothing belonged to the other things. There were just things who had once been there – old but expensive – and nobody had cared to remove them because of lack of style and not because of interest in the history of the things. When we were walking down the small corridor that lay behind the entrance hall, I already felt like crying and wanted to go again. I didn't know why._

_Aunt Abalonia was sitting in her drawing room. It was unusual hot in there; a fire had been lit in the fireplace, even though a heater was standing in the centre of the room. Abalonia was a terrible old lady in her late sixties. Her hair was tied up in a strict bundle in her neck, she had small glasses that made her small eyes look like the eyes of a pig, though she wasn't fat. She was extraordinary thin, her old leather-like skin was hanging down her cheekbones and chin. Brown dots were all over her face, and on her hands. Her fingernails were long like claws, and I would soon learn that they were her whole pride._

_She was bitter. It was obvious. You could see it because the corners of her mouth were hanging down; you could see it because of the way her eyes looked at you (as if nothing you did could ever please her); you could see it because she was dressed in nothing but black, even the pearls around her crum, thin, skin-wrapped neck were black._

_As Grizelda walked over to her, she peaked her lips and pressed them softly, but also stiffly, against the girl's forehead; she did the same with my marme__, and she ignored me at all before she spoke: "You always meet twice in life, don't you?" she asked my mother, who just nodded because she didn't really understand. "I'm glad you brought my dear nices." In fact, Grizelda and Katcha were her great-nieces, but she didn't seem to care about details like that. "Grizelda, dear, what's your sister's name?"_

_"It's Katcha, Aunty," she answered in her best Russian._

_"Come here, Katcha!" And she grabbed her other niece and place the same strange kiss on her forehead as she had done with my mom and Grizelda._

_I just could stand there, and waiting for the procedure to end. I wanted to go home again. This aunt was scary, I preferred Fritz. At least, I knew what he was up to and he didn't talk to me in a funny way before he pulled me around like a doll. However, I had to stand this out now._

_"Your cousins Lena, Anne, and Desiré are here, too, my dear. They're so looking forward to meeting you again, Grizelda." Abalonia's eyes wandered off while she was talking stiffly (even though she tried to sound nice). Eventually, she looked at me. "That's the youngest child then, I guess? You want to leave her here as well?" She didn't sound too pleased about me, not like she had been with Grizelda and Katcha._

_"Well, no," my mom answered quickly. I felt reliefed, knowing I wouldn't have to stay here._

_"Let's give it a try." Abalonia pressed her lips together. "I've dealt with similar children."_

_Similar children? She sounded as if I was some kind of cimrinal. But I hadn't even done anything! How could she know whom I was similar to in the first place? I looked at my mom. She couldn't leave me here, she couldn't! But my mom nodded and didn't even look at me. How could she? "Mo-" I opened my mouth to say something; I wanted to beg her, I wanted to do anything as long as I could go again with her. Now._

_My mom left – without me. She didn't seem to care. As she was gone, Abalonia brought us into a room that nearly looked like her drawing room, and it was also very hot in there. Three other girls – one was as old as me, the oldest was a bit older than Grizelda – sat there, occupied with some needlework. I didn't know how to do needlework, or how to knit, and I wasn't too eager to learn it. But I just wanted to be left alone by this old... by this old... by this old bitter bat!_

_"Grizelda, dear, would you please read? I would like to know if you made any progress in your pronountiation, and I know you'll enjoy the text." She sat down and handed a black leather book to my older sister, who took the book with a smile. Abalonia smiled, too, but her smile looked as if her leather-face reflected the pain caused by her ulcer. I shot a look at the black book cover and saw five golden, Russian letters on it. It took me a while to figure out what it meant, but in the end, I realized that the book was a bible._

_The three other girls didn't really seem to be happy about Grizelda; in fact, they didn't seem to be anything at all. They just ignored her, and so did Gizelda, but it seemed to be the usual manner. I just stood next to my older sister, as close as possible; if I couldn't soften my mom's heart and make her stay, mabye I could somehow melt my sister's, and she would bring me home again... Katcha had already sat down next to the youngest of her cousins, who didn't mind her in any way, of course._

_"Why are you standing there?" Abalonia snapped at me. I tried to move, but she was faster; from her sitting position, she was still able to grab me by my upper arm and shake me. I knew that already – Fritz liked to do that, too – and instinctively, I did what I usually did when Fritz grabbed me like that: I stepped back and struggled successfully by shaking her off. This all happened so fast that I couldn't think before acting._

_It was suddenly very silent in the room; it had been silent there before, but now I started feeling the silence. Grizelda didn't start to read but just starred at me, and I looked back at her in shock._

_"How dare you!" aunt shrieked and I looked at her again. I didn't fully realize what I had done wrong._

_"I didn't mean to-", I tried to say something to apologize and to defend myself, but she interrupted me:_

_"There isn't any excuse for behaving like that! You... you... you little daredevil! How dare you!" She sank back into the cushions and pillows in her armchair. "But I'll teach you a lesson – believe me, I'll teach you a lesson you'll never forget. You can't do that with me."_

_"I didn't mean... It's just... I'm sorry, really! I'm really sorry!" My lips trembled, and I instinctively grabbed for Grizelda's hand, but she stepped back and looked kind of satisfied. What had I done? "I'm really sorry!" I repeated a few more times, but Abalonia didn't care._

_She got up and grabbed me by my hands, pulling me out of the room and down the hall; the maidservant saw us and shot me a confused look, but didn't do anything. I tried to stay calm and apologize again, but Abalonia was deaf for my excuses. Instead, she mumbled something about teaching me a lesson. Eventually, she opened a door; there was a stair behind that door, and the stair led downstairs, into the darkness. Switching on the light, she pulled me down the stairs as well, and by then, I had stopped apologizing, because I realized it was senseless._

_The basement was full of old furniture and everyrthing was dusty; there was only a dim light. Finally, Abalonia let go of my hands. Instead, she grabbed for something hanging on the wall. With horror, I realized that it was a belt._

_"No, please! I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you! I'm sorry! Please, don't!" I begged and started to cry, but her face stayed motionless as she inspected the large, black leather belt._

_"You shouldn't cry before I start with you", was all she said. I stepped back and tried to get away, but she blocked the way to the stairs. For an old lady, she was pretty strong and quick. Without pity, she grabbed me again and managed to pull my shirt over my head, half undressing me. I now stood there, the upper part of my body exposed, and was shaking. She threw me down to my knees. The world around me began to disappear behind a curtain of tears before the belt hit my back for the first time._

_I screamed and begged for pardon, but the belt hit my back again. A sharp pain rushed through my whole body. This couldn't be a belt, it felt like a knife! I started crying even harder and felt as if I was going to die. The pain was unbearable._

_Once, twice, three times, four times, five times... The belt hit my back where it had hit it before, making the pain twice as bad. Trying to crawl away, she just hit the side of my ribs. On all fours, I somehow tried to hide away, but I didn't see where I was going, and she and her belt were always behind me, hitting me again and again._

_"No, please! I'll be good, I swear! I didn't want to hurt you! I didn't mean to do it! Please, stop it, I'll be good!" The belt hit my neck. "Please, stop! I can't... It's hurting... I'll be good!" The tears made me words barely understandable, but I continued to beg. "I won't do it again, I swear!" My begs turned into senseless words and cries and when I tried to turn around, I couldn't see anything because of the tears._

_I still screamed and cried after she had stopped and was gone, locking the door to the basement behind her. The world around me was shaking like my body, even though the tears disappeared after a while. Crawling on all fours like an animal, I tried to find my shirt, but it was nowhere. I felt cold, and I felt terrible. Exhausted, I lay down on my stomach, for my back was aching too much, and continued to cry. The hard floor was cold as well._

_"Mommy, please come to help me! Please! Mommy, it's hurting really bad. You know, I wouldn't complain if it wasn't really, really bad. Mommy, where are you? Please, come!" I started to talk to myself. I closed my eyes and tried to imagine what my mom would do when she came and found me like that. She would shout at Abalonia and make her apologize, she would come and hug me and kiss me and take me away; she would... she would... Thinking about what she would do, I fell asleep, dreaming of a lion that had hurt my back..._

_When I woke up again, my mom had come, but instead of defending me, she slapped me and said that she was disappointed. Didn't she see the wounds on my back? The deep purple bruises, the cuts, the flesh wounds and all the blood – and my need to be hold by her? She didn't, and as we walked home, she didn't care that I could only walk very slowly, because every move was hurting. I fell into the snow a few times, I think, and all the time, my mom's slap was burning on my cheek worse than the beatings with the belt._

_I didn't really remember coming home that night; everything was hurting, and I felt sick, but my mom didn't care. Grizelda and Katcha told their older sisters Vaida and Fran about what had happened, and the three of them laughed about me. I managed to lay down on my stomach on a matress in our room somehow, and tried to sleep. Fortunately, the others left me alone because dinner was ready soon._

_"So, you really hit the old bat?" Fritz asked and laughed. He had finished dinner quickly to go and tease me._

_"Leave her alone, Fritz!" Mikael, who had come into the room with him, said strictly._

_"Always spoiling the fun, huh?" he complained, but much to my surprise, he obeyed and left the room._

_I thought Mikael would go as well, but he stayed and looked at me for a while. "You're really a lucky child, are you not?" Rolling his eyes, he sat down next to me on the floor. "Let me see!" Quite gently, she removed my shirt that was blood stained by now. As he saw the wounds on my back, he made a strange noise with his tongue._

_"That bad?" I asked for I couldn't see it._

_"Well, you're damn lucky she only hit your neck once, Ri." He got up and left the room. I thought he was finished with me now, and I was glad that I would be left alone with the shame and the pain again, but he came back minutes later with – and that was rare – a clean towel. "We have to be careful, or it will get infected." He placed the towel on my back and took Vaida's thick, warm blanket from her bed._

_"She'll-" I tried to tell him that his sister would get angry, but he just said: "She won't dare saying a word. She won't die tonight." He tucked the warm blanket around me. "Better?" he asked nearly gently._

_I nodded. "Thank you."_

_"I only do that to stop you from whinning and crying for the next few days. I can't stand that, did I make myself clear?"_

_"Crystal", I replied and closed my eyes._

_He sat down next to me again and stroke through my hair for a very long time. He didn't even stop when he thought I was asleep. I loved him._

* * *

P.S. Reviews are great! So review, since all the cool kids do it! 


	10. Facing the enemy

**Facing the Enemy**

* * *

"So, she was angry at Tala because she wanted to beat Tyson herself?" Adrian asked. The red-head raised his eyebrows. "So you were right, Riley, something was not okay."

I, too, remembered that day after the world finals I had mused about the young Dragon bladers. Taylor looked so much like Tyson, how could anyone who knew the two of them not wonder? I guessed that Tala was well aware of Taylor and Tysons relation, and he, too, knew why Taylor hated her cousin so much. I didn't yet fully understand what happened between them. However, I had always felt that Taylor was different from us, the other abbey kids, and now I knew that I was right. "She's too confident to be one of the others," I told Adrian.

My friend nodded, stretching his limbs. Adrian yawned and sank back into his pillow. "I just wonder why Boris doesn't tell anyone that he raised the world champion first. It would suit him better."

"I know what you mean," I admitted, "and I already wondered, too. Bryan said I should stop asking, but I just have to."

"I understand you," Adrian admitted. "And I promise I'll help you. I won't let you down this time." He smiled shyly and I smiled back.

However, a part of me also felt bad. I didn't want to talk about discovery about the boys I had thought of as my brothers. I felt ashamed and didn't want anyone – not even my best friend in the world – to know. I hadn't told him, and I didn't plan to do it anytime soon.

"And we have to help Lilly," Adrian went on.

I nodded and mused about the possibilites we had – and realized we had none, except for hoping that Taylor would do anything. Hoping that Taylor knew what she did... "Do you think Boris would kill _her_."

"Lilly?" Adrian raised his eyebrows, he sounded shocked and sat up again.

"No," I shook my head, "Taylor. Would he harm her? I mean, if he knows that she's working on a plan to bring him down. What she does is dangerous, and she might get herself killed. She might get everyone killed who's involved. I mean, I'm sure Tala, Bryan and my bro-" I stumbled, not really knowing what I should call Mikael now, but Adrian wasn't supposed to know, "brother are helping her. And I did, too." Feeling tired myself, I lay down on the bedcover next to Adrian. Feeling his body beside me made me feel comfortable and for a while, I didn't feel totally alone. As I closed my eyes, I heard him yawn again and had to yawn, too, before I drifted off to sleep. Even now, I had to fight to keep myself from thinking about Mikael, Fritz and Ethiopis.

The first thing I realized when I woke up again was that a blanket was tucked around me. My sport shoes had been put off my feet, and I felt warm and cozy. Adrian was lying beside me, I could hear him breath. The room around me was dark, but from the noises, I could tell that there had to be two or three other people sleeping as well. Even though I hadn't felt that safe in a very long time, and I felt warm, I couldn't go back to sleep. Too many things were already eating at me – things I couldn't name, but I felt them in the pit of my stomach.

Eventually, I climbed out from under the blanket. My shoes were standing next to the bed and I could find them easily in the darkness to put them on again. Carefully, I left the room without a particular destination. The hallways were empty as always at night. Only a few lamps were burning, just enough light to not get lost. I found my way up to the next floor, and walked down another corridor, hoping to be far away from Boris. The silence of the abbey was something that made me muse. I felt sick, and I wanted to be far away. I wanted my life to end, I wanted to wake up from that nightmare. I wanted to be farer away than ever... My pace was faster than I intended to, and I walked faster and faster by the minute without being able to help it.

Suddenly, as I walked around a corner, I heard voices and saw light floading into the darker corridor from under a door.

"...can do it." That was Taylor.

"I don't understand you." The other one was Mikael.

Curiously, I sneaked to the door and listened to what they were talking about.

"You don't need to understand me," Taylor stated in a neutral tone.

Mikael chuckled. "So, Bryan is right then? The only one who really understands you is yourself, Taylor." He seemed to find this amusing.

"You don't even know me half as long as Bryan and Tala do, so why are you surprised?" Taylor, however, was definitively not amused.

"Maybe because I love you," Mikael laughed, "and of course, you love me."

"I sure do," Taylor said, but I didn't really think she sounded as if she meant it. However, I didn't know anything about love and relationships anyway.

"So, you want to tell me more about that interesting cousin of yours?"

"No, I don't _want_ to, but if you shut up, I will anyway. He's just my stupid little cousin, a weak coward who accidently became world champion."

"I thought he was older than you."

"Only by two weeks. Anyway, that doesn't matter. He's weak – nearly died as a child, and I still don't understand why Tala, that idiot, couldn't kick his butt during the championship. If Boris had let me do it, I would have beat him before he would have got the chance to realize what had hit him. Boris won't get anywhere if he doesn't change his tactics and forgets about his old Russian way. Doesn't he see that he's about to destroy himself?"

"Obviously, he doesn't. But if we do what Bryan said, he eventually won't matter. As soon as he loses Voltaire's protection, you can show the world what kind of criminal he is and everyone will be happily ever after."

"You sound as if that bores you."

"Well, it does a little bit, but I try to think of the things we will do after we saved the world. Ow!" Taylor seemed to have hit him. "What was that for?"

"For being you."

"Come on, I'm the one you fell for like a bee would have fallen for honey, _sweetheart_. You can't deny I'm charming, babe"

"Yeah, I obviously have a hard time keeping myself from raping you." Taylor sounded really annoyed by now. "Anyway, that has to wait until we have saved Boris' butt."

"So, you changed your mind? What about all the advice your precious Bryan gave you?"

"He doesn't really expect me to not change my plans and to listen to him." Taylor sighed. "Look, he really does believe in happily ever after – I don't know why, I've always thought of him as intelligent and rational and realistic, but obviously, he's just a dreamer. N.M.P."

"N.M.P.?"

"Not my problem. Anyway, I won't destroy Boris, I will help him to get along with Voltaire again, and then I'll get the chance to be world champion next year. That's the way it was meant to be. We're just going through a slight crisis. Boris has to see that he needs Voltaire and me, not Anastacia and her whinning little cousin. His plans are the hell dumb!"

"So, you've collected all that information against Boris just to drop your plans now?"

"Well, that will be plan B, but I won't need it. I just like to be informed. And I will need the informations to send Anastacia back to the desert or to wherever she came from this time."

"You don't really plan to stay here for the rest of your life with Boris, do you? I mean, you're closer to him than anyone else, yeah, but..."

"What?"

Suddenly, Mikael's voice changed and he sounded soft and understand. "You're so much more, Taylor. There's much more in you, and from all of us, you are the one who has the chance to be free. He's your cousin. He's your _family._"

"He's not! These people are not my family! My family's dead! Please, Mikael, don't talk as if you know me. Don't pretend you understand me. I've wanted to be happy elsewhere, I wanted to be somewhere else to be free, but I've learned that this is my place, my home, my family. I can't change what I'm destined to be. Tyson and his people are not longer a part of my life, they never were, and it's all right that way. It's all right for me, and it's none of your business."

"Okay, okay..." Mikael sighed. "I just wanted to make sure you know what you do."

I walked past the door, not really caring what they had talked about. Maybe I was angry at Taylor for not doing what she had promised me. Maybe, however, it was for good. That way of life may have been my destiny as well, who knew... I don't know how I slipped back into the bed next to Adrian. Somehow, I fell asleep again, determined to die as soon as possible.

Taylor's plans were never to be carried out. The next morning, I woke up when someone was shaking me violently. I tried to fight the hand off that was shaking me, but then I realized it was Bryan, and he looked really... desperate.

"Get up, quickly. Both of you!"

Adrian, who was sitting beside me on the bed, rubbed his eyes sleepily and yawned. He, too, didn't understand what was up, and the expression on Bryan's face and the sound in the older boy's voice didn't seem to trouble him too much. Maybe he was just too sleepy still...

"Come on, Riley, get up!" He offered me his hand and I took it as I climbed out of my bed.

"What's up?" I mumbled sleepily as I got into my trainers.

"We need to go to Taylor. Voltaire will be here in a few hours and she's going to reveal everything." In between his worries, he smiled – he smiled really happily, like I had never seen him before.

"She's not going to do it, Bryan," I told him quickly, remembering what I had overheard the night before. "She told Mikael, she won't do it. She'll force them to work together, but she won't abandon Boris."

"When did she say that?" Bryan snapped, and his hand that was holding mine began to shake.

"Last night." I stood beside him, looking up at his troubled face.

"Damn it, Taylor," he muttered under his breath and turned towards me. However, I guess he had expected her to change her mind, since he just said to me: "Okay, then we'll change our plans as well. Come on."

Adrian, too, had put on his shoes, and followed us as Bryan dragged me out of the room. The other two boys were still half asleep and just about to wake up. I had to run to be as fast as Bryan, and he didn't slow down when I asked him to.

We hadn't even reached the stairs when Taylor found us. She came running down the stairs just as we had wanted to go down the other one, and shouted: "Adrian, you're coming with me!"

"Taylor, you..." Bryan wanted to shout at her, but she didn't even look at him.

"Come on, kid, we don't have all day!" She grabbed Adrian by his shoulder, who was too scared and too confused to protest.

"Taylor, we planned this together – we carried this out together! You can't change everything on your own! Do you listen to me? TAYLOR, damn it!"

"I can hear you, Bryan, there's no reason to shout. I'll do what I think is best!"

"Do what you think you have to, but leave Adrian alone. The kids have nothing to do with it, they're too small. I told Boris, but he wouldn't be reasonable... However, I know you're not like him, you understand, so just..."

"Just shut up." She sighed and smiled down sweetly at Adrian – _really _sweetly – and that moment, she looked extraordinary charming, and nice, and pretty. "Adrian, do you want to meet your brother? I'll bring you to him if you come with me now, I promise."

"Really?" he replied shyly, not really sure if he could believe her or not. "I've got a brother?"

"Yeah, and he looks exactly like you, and I know he will be as happy to see you as you'll be." She offered him his hand, and he took it while he still looked at Bryan and me as if he was searching for help.

"Taylor, you don't really think you can persuade Yuri that way?"

She didn't answer, and just walked past us, Adrian following her. Bryan froze, but didn't say anything. I told him I didn't want to leave Adrian alone, but he just shook his head.

"Riley, look, this is all going to be a disaster!" However, he let me drag him down the stairs, and eventually followed Taylor with me. "Taylor, if you just listen to me for a second... If you just think about it again, you will realize what you're doing... what you're doing to not only all of us, but to yourself, too. That's something you can't control."

"You're wrong, I can."

"Don't be childish, Taylor, please!"

She stopped and turned around to face him. "I'm not childish!"

"Look, what about this: We'll search for everyone and talk about it all together – we'll deicde it as a group, since we've been doing everything concerning this as a group. That would be fair. For all of us."

"We don't have time! Look, I need Tala, and I need you, but I need you _now_ – without endless talking." She made her way down the corridor, but suddenly, Adrian managed to shake her off. (In some way, that was the bravest thing he had done so far.)

"I don't want to go! What's going on?" He sounded as if he was about to cry any minute.

Taylor, however, was determined to keep him on her side, so she explained to him in a very soft and motherly tone: "I know this is all very confusing for you, sweetheart." She caressed his cheeks with her long, thin fingers and smiled. "You're so small, you're just a child. But I promise we're here to look out for you. And your brother has been waiting for you for such a long time… Oh, you will break his heart if you don't come and meet him now."

"TAYLOR!" Bryan and I shouted simultaneous.

Rolling his eyes, the teen girl look at us: "Great, Bryan, you raised that little brat to be a mini-you! Hell, one of your kind was enough, really! There was no need for another one!"

"That's not the least bit funny, Taylor! We have suffered here – all of us have. We have been hit and abused here. We've been kept away from our families and denied everything that makes us human: our freedom, our free will! They've treated us like animals, beat us and took everything away from us and tormented us just for their pleasure! They did it to us what they're doing to those kids now. And just as we, Riley, Adrian and the others can't defend themselves, since they think they don't deserve anything else. They think that's what life's supposed to be for them, they don't know they have so many other chances! And I think that's what you still do, too: You think you're nothing but what Boris made you. You're too blind to see that you're no his creature – without you, he's nothing, but without him, you're still a wonderful, talented, beautiful person, you can turn into whatever you want!

I know you're scared to move on; you're afraid of the change. I was, too, and I still am. But you're not alone, Taylor. Tala and I, we'll always be there for you. We'll always be there to stand by your side. Through thick and thin. We're friends forever, remember? And as friends, we'll end this. We worked so hard for it. We've suffered in silence and only survived because we knew that this day would come. All we now need is just s a little more courage to end it. We've been so brave through the years. We've handled so many things. And we can do that, too. Taylor, please."

That's exactly what Bryan said, I swear. And up to this day, I haven't forgotten a word of it. I have neither forgotten a single one of his words, nor the look in his eyes: how they sparkled as tears gathered in them.

"Oh Bryan…" Taylor looked at him, and she didn't know what to reply. I think, she, too, was close to tears, but she was Taylor, she would never allow herself to cry in front of anyone else. "I... I..."

Adrian, sweet Adrian, felt so sorry for her that he hugged her. Taylor just looked at Bryan like a helpless child. I, too, felt sorry for her, since I knew what it felt like to be helpless and confused. That was, after all, what I've been feeling all my life.

"I want... I want to talk to Boris," Taylor said in a shaking voice. "I can't do it just like that, Bryan. I just can't! My coursage is limited."

"Yes, but Boris is not your limit, Taylor."

"Come with me. Please, come with me," she asked, trying to controll herself.

Bryan nodded and looked down at me. "We will stand this through together, okay, Riley? Come on."

The four of us walked through the empty hallways in silence. Taylor carried a look of determination on her face. My stomach dropped as we eventually reached the door to Boris' office. Taylor opened it without knocking.

"Gaspadin?" she said before I had entered the room.

Boris, Mikael and Anastacia were sitting in his office, and they looked surprised when they saw Taylor coming to them freely like that. The raven haired teenager looked unflappable again. The expression on her face was blank and for a moment, she looked as young as she really was.

"Taylor, what are you here for?" Boris asked coldly. I had never heard him talking to Taylor like that – as if she disgusted him.

She glared at Mikael for a moment, but he just looked away. Anastacia smiled satisfiedly. Within the fracture of a second, Taylor grew in front of our very eyes, she back straightened and she looked like a lioness ready to strike. There was no fear in her eyes, no confusion. She was prepared to fight for herself – she had done so all her life, since there had been no one else to fight for her. All the while, she had been holding Adrian's hand, but now, she let it go and Adrian grabbed for Bryan's free hand instead.

"Oh gosh...," Bryan mumbled under his breath.

"I guess he told you what I have been doing." She nooded towards Mikael.

Much to my surprise, my former brother's face went red and he couldn't face her. Was he really ashamed?

"You mean that little plot of yours against me?" Boris chuckled. "That was so _sweet_ of you, my little Taylor. Did you really think you could bring me down just like that? Tell me, I thought you were smarter than that. Your actions were dumb, I'm disappointed."

"Your plan is dumb, Boris," she replied calmly. "Voltaire has been trying to improve Russia's situation by modernising every aspect of your people's life, and he wanted us to be a great part of his work. He wanted to us blading for good. He's been seeing things the way they were, and if you hadn't worked against him for years, he would be much more successful already. By trying to destroy Voltaire, however, you're just destroying yourself and you don't even have the brains to see that."

"So, you're saving me from myself, my angel?"

"Yes."

"You don't trust me? I've always done every thing for you, Taylor, every thing. You were like a daughter to me, I loved you. And now, you're doing this to me..."

"Stop it!" Bryan interupted him. "Taylor's her own person, Boris. She can make up her own mind, and she doesn't need you. You only need her. And you never showed her any special affection, you just controlled her. You tried to make her you and never gave her a chance to be herself. Every step she took was another mistake to you."

Anastacia laughed. "She failed, Bryan, because she's not Russian. She doesn't belong to us."

"Taylor belongs more to Tala and me than you ever will in a thousand years!"

"It doesn't, Bryan. Taylor, you're free," Boris declared in a soft tone. "You're free to go wherever you want. I won't keep a traitor in the abbey – I don't want _any_ of you around me!"

Suddenly, a flashlight raced over Taylor's face: her eyes widened in shock and horror. "Where's Tala?" she shouted. Boris just smirked, so she talked directly to Mikael: "Where is he, Mikael? Where is Tala? Tell me!"

"Voltaire will be here in a few hours, and neither I nor those loyal to me will be here then anymore. And you won't either." Boris got up from his seat behind the desk, and as he raised his hand, he pointed a pistol at Bryan. "It's your own fault, kids. I'm afraid this is your own fault. I've always taught you to take responsibility for your actions."

"Don't you dare threatening my friends!" Taylor shouted. "You're disgusting."

Boris didn't mind her. "Adrian, my dear, come here, boy. _Now!_"

With shaking knees, Adrian obeyed. He walked over to Anastacia and Mikael slowly.

"I'll take this one. I didn't train all those sweet little children for nothing. The rest of you, however, is useless to me. Useless little traitors, all involved in your little plan, Taylor."

I looked at Mikael, and he shook his head very slowly. GO! He silently formed the words with his mouth, but all I could do was keeping my hand clutched around Bryan's.

"Leave the boy alone. He hasn't done anything. He's not Yuri's replacement!" Bryan said.

Suddenly, while Boris was still glancing at Bryan, I saw Taylor moving her arms very quickly. "Let it rip!", she shouted and shot her blade at Boris, who immediately dropped the weapon. Bryan drew me after him as he turned around and ran.

"Adrian, come on!" I heard Taylor shouting, but Adrian whimpered. I heard even more noises from Taylor's blade and I later learned that Anastacia had stood up to the challenge and had tried to blade against Taylor right there in Boris' office.

"We need to find the others," Bryan said breathlessly. The battle noises behind us grew louder and louder, and I was close to tears.

_Stop it! Wake up! Stop it! Wake up! Let me wake up, please!_ That was all I could think.


End file.
